


Where Loyalties Lie

by thagirlwhocan



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Abuse, Canon Era, Friendship, Gen, Kidnapping, Magic Revealed, Mind Manipulation, Torture
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-08-07
Updated: 2013-11-08
Packaged: 2017-12-22 17:44:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 21
Words: 58,998
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/916178
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thagirlwhocan/pseuds/thagirlwhocan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Merlin and Arthur are taken hostage by Morgana, they are unprepared for the new tactics she's willing to use to get the information she wants. What secrets will she uncover, and how will this new information change her plans? Set post season 3</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This was a story that nagged me for weeks on end and was only ever meant to be a oneshot, but over the months it's grown into this beast. So hopefully you all with enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. The story is a WIP and I already have nineteen chapters written, so I'll be posting them as I go back through and re edit them again.

Something was wrong. It was cold. It wasn’t supposed to be cold. Merlin couldn’t figure out why this single face was bothering him. When searching his body, he could feel the familiar presence of warmth in his chest, the eternal fire at the center of his body that never left him, constantly burning at the center of his very self. 

His magic. But apart from that there was nothing. Everything else was unnaturally cold. 

The first thing he felt outside the chill was an unbearable pain coming from the back of his head. The next thing he noticed was a sharp pain shooting through his arms. He attempted to move them, but it didn’t take long for him to realize that he was unable to, because they were bound and chained above his head.

That was when he started to panic. The last thing he could remember was riding out with Arthur to patrol the woods surrounding of Camelot. 

Typically they would’ve gone with a few of the knights, usually with Gwaine, Leon, and Percival, but the past few months had been quiet. For Merlin, it had been a little too quiet. In all his years living in Camelot, he couldn’t remember a time when someone or something wasn’t trying to attack the city. For years Merlin had been working day in and day out, stopping some force or another, more often than not a sorcerer of some kind who was hell-bent on destroying them all. But for three months there had been nothing.

No assassination attempts against Arthur or Uther, no attacks from some unknown magical creature, and not a single whisper of the use of sorcery in the entire kingdom. Camelot was at peace for the first time in years. And while everyone else in Camelot was pleased with the new change of events, it had Merlin on edge. 

He couldn’t argue that he wasn’t happy with the fact that Arthur’s life was no longer hanging in the balance every other day, or that his magic wasn’t constantly on the verge of being exposed to the entire kingdom. To be honest, it was kind of refreshing to be able to wake up every morning and realize that they only thing he had to worry about for the day was whether or not he would have to muck out the stables. But it still didn’t feel right.

After weeks and weeks of nothing, Merlin had to shove the thought into the back of his head, the nagging feelings that something wasn’t right. But even after months it was still there, pestering him in the back of his mind, trying to tell him that something was very wrong. 

In the beginning when Merlin tried to express his concerns to Gaius, the old physician would just tell him to take pleasure in this short ‘break’ from his inescapable and never-ending destiny and to enjoy himself for once. So he tried.

And he did. It wasn’t like he had never enjoyed himself before, but those three months had been different. He spent more time just talking and being a friend to Gwen, the friend that she deserved. And it wasn’t just Gwen, Merlin actually spent time with the knights when he wasn’t with Arthur. After a few failed attempts, Gwaine eventually managed to convince Merlin to join him on one of his nightly trips the tavern. And from there it was history. Merlin and Gwaine’s trips to the tavern became a regular occurrence. Two or three nights a week Merlin with the company of Gwaine and a few of the other knights would head down to the tavern to enjoy themselves for the night. And every once in awhile Arthur would make an appearance, usually halfway though the night when everyone had already had a little too much to drink. When he did make one of his rare appearances, he would never drink, instead he would just sit there with them, laughing and enjoying himself as his friends made fools of themselves. 

During those months Merlin joked around and talked more with Arthur than he had in his entire time living in Camelot. Merlin had considered Arthur a friend for sometime before, but over those months their friendship had grown even stronger. Arthur was no longer just the Prince of Camelot that he had sworn to protect with his life. 

Merlin now understood what the Great Dragon had meant when he insisted that he and Arthur were two sides of the same coin. Years ago his mother had told him the same thing, her words still ringing in his ears, “You belong at Arthur's side. I've seen how much he needs you, how much you need him. You're like two sides of the same coin.” And for the first time in all his years at Arthur’s side, Merlin felt like they truly were. 

During those months of peace, Camelot had become a happier and safer place. It was this feeling of safety that put Arthur and Merlin alone in the woods that afternoon. Over the weeks they had been letting up on the number of knights required to go on patrol. Prior to this, it had always been at least five knights per patrol, but now they felt comfortable enough to go in pairs of two, comfortable enough to let Arthur and Merlin go by themselves. Over the months everyone had started letting their guards down. 

This was their fatal mistake.

Arthur and Merlin had been riding through the woods, getting ready to head back to Camelot when it happened.

It wasn’t often that Merlin got to be completely alone with Arthur, so he took this time to try and pester Arthur into discussing his feelings for Gwen.

“Come on Arthur, you can’t deny your feelings for her.” Merlin goaded the prince as they trotted along on horseback through the woods.

“You can lie to everyone else,” Merlin smirked at the man riding beside him “but you can’t lie to me.”

Arthur grunted. “Do we really have to talk about this right now Merlin?”

“Yes we do Arthur.” Merlin insisted, “This is the only time we can talk about it. Look around us Arthur,” Merlin referred to the silent and empty woods surrounding them, “There’s no one else around, there’s no better time to talk about the fact that you’re in love with Gwen.”

“Will you please be quiet Merlin?” Arthur interjected. “With a mouth like that it’s a wonder the entirety of Camelot doesn’t know about...this thing.” he gestured with hands. 

Merlin let out a cheerful laugh beside him. “Okay, whatever you say princess.”

Just as Arthur was about to pelt an apple core at the useless servant it happened. Arthur watched as Merlin was suddenly yanked backwards off his horse by some invisible force and thrown into a nearby tree. The sound of his head cracking against the trunk was unmistakable in the silence that echoed around them. And just like that, his beloved friend and servant fell to the ground in a heap at the base of the tree, a pool of blood already forming around his head. Before Arthur could make his next move, he felt something slam into the back of his head, knocking him out cold.

The last thing Merlin could remember was getting jerked from his horse and the pain that followed. Then everything went black. They had been captured. They. That’s when Merlin felt his heart stop. He had no doubt that Arthur had also been captured, but why him too? 

What really concerned Merlin, more than them being captured, was the fact that he was taken out first before Arthur. Why would anyone take out the servant before the prince, the prince who had been trained to kill since birth, who was one of Camelot’s strongest and most capable knights? None of it made sense.

As Merlin slowly slipped back into consciousness, he couldn’t help but blame himself. It was obviously that somebody possessing magic had attacked them, and Merlin let them. If he had been on his guard he could have stopped this from happening. He should have been able to sense someone with magic nearby, but he didn’t. Over the months he had become lazy, he let his guard down, and now they were paying the price.

The first thing he looked for when he finally managed to pry his eyes open was Arthur, and he found him. A couple feet away Arthur was sitting on the ground with his arms shackled above his head, much like Merlin’s. Thankfully he was conscious. 

It was obvious that they were in some kind of dungeon, somewhere deep underground. The heavy and damp air around them made that clear. And it was cold.

Arthur hadn’t noticed him yet, but his eyes were focused on something else entirely. Following his line of sight to the other side of the room, his breath caught in his throat when he found her eyes. At first it was all he could see, her green and cold eyes piercing though him from the shadows. When their eyes finally met, she smiled and stepped forward from the shadows. 

Morgana.


	2. Chapter 2

His breath caught in his throat when he found her eyes. At first it was all he could see, her green and cold eyes piercing though him from the shadows. When her eyes focused in on him, she smiled and stepped out from the shadows. 

“Morgana.” Merlin choked out, his heart sinking into his stomach. 

“Nice of you to finally join us.” She quipped, stepping closer so that Merlin could see her clearly. Just looking at her made his heart break.

He could no longer see any resemblance to the women he had once considered his friend. Her skin was pale, almost glowing in the darkness. Her face caved in and jagged. And her eyes cold and void of any emotion they once held. The last time he had seen her he could see the anger and sadness seeping through her hardened façade. But even those emotions were gone now. She was unrecognizable and empty.

“For awhile there I was worried you wouldn’t wake at all.” She added with a laugh, leaning down till they were at eye level.

“After all, you did lose quite a bit of blood.” The fake concern clear on her face. Reaching around his head, she began digging her fingers into the fresh wound.

He let out a stifled scream as the pain from the wound shot through his body. He could feel it now; he had certainly lost a lot of blood. His head was clouded and it took every ounce of energy to keep from passing out again. He would not leave Arthur alone with Morgana.

“Enough Morgana!” Arthur growled from across the room, struggling against his chains.

“Let’s just get this over with.” He added, accepting the fact that they weren’t getting out of there alive. Over the years he and Merlin had managed some spectacular and unbelievable escapes, but this was too much. Nobody could save them now.

Morgana snickered. “So eager to die aren’t you dear brother?” She finally pulled her hand away from the wound, shoving Merlin’s head away as she stood up again.

“No, I’m not going to kill you just yet. I want to relish in this moment. Do you have any idea how long I’ve been planning this?” She asked, the satisfaction dripping from her voice.

She sat down on the floor in front of her two prisoners. “I’ve been working for months now, every action and every step, every minute planning for this very moment.”

“Three…months.” Merlin stammered under his breath, shaking his head and letting it hang down.

At this point Morgana was practically gleaming.

“Precisely. It appears you aren’t as brainless as you appear my dear Merlin.” 

“Three months?” Arthur questioned. He didn’t quite understand.

“But apparently my brother is just as dim-witted as I always believed him to be. Did you not find it strange Arthur? For three months now there has been peace in Camelot, not a sound or whisper of any enemy poised to strike or any form magical attacks across the entire kingdom. Nothing. Just silence.” 

“What did you do Morgana? How did you do it?” Arthur questioned. 

“Oh it wasn’t easy.” She laughed. “For three months now I’ve stopped every beast and sorcerer from entering your precious kingdom. Every single threat defeated before it came anywhere near Camelot.” 

“But why?” If it was possible, Arthur was even more confused. Why would she go through the trouble of protecting them?

Merlin let out a chuckle, his head still facing downward.

“Merlin?” Morgana said with a smile.

He took a deep breath. “She knew.” He scoffed, he looked up to meet her face and his eyes were dark.

“She knew that if all the attacks against Camelot stopped for long enough that we would begin to let our guards down. That we would begin letting up on patrols, knowing that it would eventually just be you and me.” Morgana smiled at the servant’s answer. 

“Plus she probably didn’t want someone else to get to you first Arthur. She wanted to be the one to kill you.” He added looking towards the ceiling and rolling his eyes. 

“How could I have been so stupid?” He muttered under his breath, but still loud enough for Arthur and Morgana to hear.

The sorceress gave him a short clap. “I have to admit Merlin, I haven’t given you near enough credit. You really are fairly intelligent, significantly more so than my poor brother over here.” She said in amazement. 

Arthur though back to the past few months, specifically to Merlin during that time. In the beginning he recalled the servant being more on edge than normal. Always looking and acting as if something were about to jump out from around the corner and attack them. But whenever he attempted to question the boy about his strange behavior, Merlin always brushed it off, saying that it was nothing; just a feeling.

Merlin always seemed to have these strange feelings when something wasn’t right, and apparently Merlin was right once again. Arthur vowed that if they somehow managed to get out of this alive, he would never discount those feelings again.

Merlin on the other hand had been trying to put together some sort of escape plan. The first thing he needed to do was knock Arthur out. There was no escaping it; he was going to have to use his magic to make their escape. But he would have to wait for the right moment. He couldn’t let Morgana find out about his magic. From there it wouldn’t take long for her to put all the pieces together. It wouldn’t take long for her to realize that he was Emrys. 

The timing had to be perfect. So he would patiently wait for that perfect moment to arise, or until the situation became dire enough that he no longer had a choice.

“So what’s your plan Morgana?” Merlin chuckled lightly, a small smile appearing on his lips. 

“You’re obviously not going to just kill us right out. No, you have something else planned don’t you.”

The smile dropped from Morgana’s face. The boy in front of her who she had once considered a friend, the servant who had been the biggest thorn in her side, he was actually mocking her. She had them chained up in a dungeon with no chance of escape, and he had the nerve to talk to her like that. But she wasn’t going to let the boy get the best of her.

“You continue to amaze me Merlin.” She said, the smile once again returning to her face. “And once again you are correct in your assumption. Killing the two of you would be too kind. I want you both to suffer.” The sinister smile that grew on her face sent shivers up Arthur’s spine. 

What had happened to the girl he had once known, the girl he had once considered a sister long before learning that she actually was? That girl was gone. He knew there was no hope for him, but maybe he could convince her to release Merlin.

“You’ve got me Morgana, just let Merlin go. He has nothing to do with this.” He said almost pleading with the women. 

Simultaneously, Merlin let out a dejected sigh beside him and Morgana let out a cold and hearty laugh that echoed through the entire room.

“Oh Arthur.” she said still chuckling as she attempted to catch her breath “You could promise me the throne of Camelot and all its riches and I still wouldn’t let the boy go.”

She turned away from Arthur and met Merlin’s striking blue eyes. They each knew what the other was thinking. There was no chance in hell she was going to let him go.

“I’m going to enjoy every scream of pain that escapes from his useless mouth. And I’ll probably enjoy it more than the screams that will come from your mouth dear brother.” She said addressing the prince, her eyes finally breaking away from the warlocks.

Once again Arthur didn’t understand. What pleasure would she take from torturing Merlin? What had the servant done to deserve this level of resentment and anger from Morgana? But just as he was about to ask, she began talking again.

“But don’t fret boys, this first part won’t actually hurt. For awhile now I’ve been working on a new little skill that I find to be quite helpful in situations such as these.” Her excitement evident with every word she spoke.

“What are you talking about?” Merlin asked in a bored tone. 

Arthur looked at his friend in disbelief. Why was he trying to provoke Morgana? What would he gain from making her even angrier than she already was? 

But Merlin was just trying to keep her talking. The longer she went on, the better chance he would have at escaping. If he could distract her long enough then eventually the moment would arise when they could make their escape.

But Morgana ignored his attempted disinterest. “Tell me, what do you know of the Old Religion and the Great Mind Readers of legend?”

With those words Merlin’s heart stopped and his eyes snapped up to meet Morgana’s, a look of terror apparent on his face.


	3. Chapter 3

“Tell me” she paused, “what do you know of the Old Religion and the Great Mind Readers of legend?”

He couldn’t breathe and Morgana could read the panic that was written all over his face. She couldn’t possibly know about them. This couldn’t be happening.

“They were also known as the High Priestesses of Truth.” 

His heart stopped.

When Merlin first arrived in Camelot all those years ago, he knew nothing about the history of magic or the Old Religion. All he knew was that he had magic, and that it was something to be kept hidden. But over the years, especially after leaning of his great destiny, he sought to learn all he could about the Old Religion. So when he wasn’t saving Arthur’s life or defending Camelot from complete destruction, he consumed as much information about magic as he could. With the help of his mentor, Gaius, and his extensive book collection, Merlin came to consider himself fairly well versed on the subject, but there were still gaps in his knowledge.

Unfortunately, this wasn’t the first time Merlin had heard of the High Priestesses of Truth.

-

It had been a rather quiet day in Camelot. Gaius and Merlin had finished dinner and while Gaius organized his supplies and prepared himself for the coming week, Merlin was reading through another one of Gaius’ many books - a journal written by an unnamed sorcerer who lived through the Great Purge. Most of the information was pretty basic, but the final entry in the journal confused the young warlock. 

“Hey Gaius,” the boy muttered, not even looking up from the book “What do you know about the High Priestesses of Truth and the Great Alliance?”

It was the sound of glass shattering across the room that finally tore Merlin’s eyes away from the book. Even with his back to his apprentice, Merlin could still see that the old physician had gone completely ridged.

“Gaius?” Merlin asked nervously. He could see Gaius taking deep breaths as if he was trying to compose himself. His hands visibly shaking as he supported himself against the work table in front of him.

The look on the man’s face when he finally turned around to look at the boy was something Merlin would never forget. He was absolutely terrified and all the color had vanished from his face. He had seen Gaius scared before, but this was something far beyond that. 

Merlin could remember the look on the man’s face when he was about to be burned at the stake, and it still couldn’t compare to how he looked in that moment. It was frightening. 

“Wh…what does it say?” he finally stammered, his voice almost a whisper from across the room.

He hesitated. “Gaius, you don’t ha….”

“Please,” he said quietly, “just read it.”

He took a deep breath, debating whether or not he should just drop the subject completely, but he was curious. He wanted to know what could cause this much fear just at the mention of its name. So he began reading the final entry.

“The end is nigh. I can feel it in my very bones. My death is coming. I know I should be afraid - afraid to burn at the stake like all those before me, but alas I am content. After all I’ve seen and experienced through the years, being burned alive seems almost kind. I haven’t feared death, or any other form of torture since the times of the High Priestesses’ and the Great Alliance. Days so dark – they were wiped from the pages of history. If only I could forget, but they will be with me till my dying breath. Only then can I hope to escape those memories that haunt me. Maybe then I shall be free.”

Merlin looked up to see Gaius looking older than he had ever seen him. His eyes closed – lost in the memories the passage brought back.

“Gaius?” Noticing that the older man was about to collapse, Merlin jumped up from his seat to support the physician. After steadying him, Merlin led him back to the chair he had previously been occupying. 

After getting Gaius a cup of water, Merlin kneeled down in front of the man who had become somewhat of a father to him over the years. He didn’t know what to do to help the man.

“Gaius I’m sorry.” Merlin muttered in soft tones, “I shouldn’t have brought it up, I just-“ but he didn’t know what to say or how to comfort him.

“No” He said, resigned. “It’s okay.”

He let out a small chuckle. “You would think that after all these years it wouldn’t affect me like this anymore.” 

Merlin gave a small smile and shook his head. “Gaius,” he started hesitantly “What happened?”

After a few seconds, he took a deep breath and began. “In the days before the Great Purge, when Uther was the newly crowned king of Camelot, there was a…” he paused, unsure of the right word to use. “A war. A war against the High Priestesses of Truth – a war so horrific and gruesome, a war marked by so many unspeakable acts that it was left unnamed. The war that no one wanted to remember, but could never be forgotten.” He paused for another minute; collecting his thoughts. 

“In the centuries before the war, when sorcerers and men lived together in harmony, the kings of old would venture to the Priestesses of Truth, seeking approval from those whose support mattered most. Therefore, when a king went before the Priestesses for judgment, they would peer into his very soul, able to see absolute truth. No questions were asked and no words were spoken, a persons mind was like a book - every moment from their life, every thought that ever passed through their head – open for the Priestesses to read. Nothing could be hidden from them.” 

Merlin reached forward and held Gaius’ shaking hands. Even the idea of someone being able to read through his mind absolutely terrified him, but that couldn’t be it, there was obviously more to the story. So he waited for him to continue.

“After centuries, the minds of the Priestesses began to warp and twist, their judgment became clouded, their thoughts misconstrued. And In the end they turned against one and all, men and sorcerers alike.” He paused.

“That’s how the Great Alliance was formed.” He emphasized, a hint of fondness evident in his voice. Lifting his head slightly, his eyes met Merlin, a small but sad smile playing on his worn face.

“The Great Alliance of men and sorcerers, the High Priestesses of the Old Religion and the Great Kings of men joining together, headed by the unstoppable combination of Uther Pendragon and Nimueh.”

Merlin let the information sink in and to be honest it was a lot to process. He had known that Uther and Nimueh had been on decent terms prior to the death of Arthur’s mother Ygraine, but this was something else completely. The entire situation just seemed so implausible and unlikely. How had he not heard of this? But before he could ask any questions, Gaius continued.

“So the war was fought, and in the end the Great Alliance won and the High Priestesses of Truth were destroyed.” He concluded. 

Merlin’s brow wrinkled in confusion. That couldn’t be the entire story.

“But Gaius, that doesn’t-“ but before Merlin could even finish the though, Gaius cut him off.

“No Merlin.” Gaius snapped, taking the boy by surprise.

After a few seconds his face softened again. Gaius leaned forward and gathered the boy’s hands in his and gave him a pleading look. 

“There is a reason you’ve never heard of this before now Merlin. The same reason every mention and whisper of it was erased from all of history. The crimes that occurred and where witnessed were unspeakable. In the end, both the kings and High Priestesses agreed that the practice of reading another’s mind would become punishable by death and death alone.” Gaius emphasized with a sense of finality. 

Merlin couldn’t lie; there was a part of him that didn’t want to know what the High Priestesses did with their powers to force an alliance between men and sorcerers, the horrors that forced them to erase all traces of the war from history. After debating this in his head for a few minutes he decided something. He didn’t want to know.

After that night, Gaius and he never spoke of it again. It was as if the conversation that never transpired.

-

But here it was, facing him once again, and he didn’t know what to do. 

“Well, well, well. It appears Merlin here has heard of them before. And from the look on his face, he knows what it means.” Morgana added with a laugh.

Arthur had very little knowledge of the High Priestesses, but it was clear to him that these High Priestesses of Truth were in no way the same thing. They were something entirely different. 

Time and time again Merlin road out with Arthur to face some foe, knowing that he would probably not make it out alive. But he never showed any fear. As much as he hated to admit it, his clumsy and unreliable servant was anything but a coward. Even in the most hopeless of situations, Merlin never stayed behind like all other servants would have. Instead he would remain at Arthur’s side, and by some miracle, while numerous others who were both stronger and faster died on the battlefield, the two of them always managed to come out alive. Merlin was brave. 

It wasn’t till Arthur glanced over at Merlin to see what Morgana was talking about that he became worried. The boy was visibly petrified. If the look on Merlin’s face told Arthur anything, it was that these High Priestesses of Truth that Morgana spoke of were something to be feared. 

“Once again Merlin, you’ve managed to amaze me. How is it you know of the High Priestesses of Truth?” She questioned, curious as to how this lowlife and insufferable servant has attained such knowledge.

Whether it was from shock or refusal to answer her question, Merlin remained silent, now trying to avoid Morgana’s eyes. This only made her break out in laughter.

“It’s not as simple as that Merlin.” She said with a tone of amusement. 

Standing up in one swift motion, she walked towards Arthur. That action was enough to break Merlin out of his daze and he was once again struggling against his chains, trying to get to Arthur. While they were aware of his struggle, Morgana and Arthur were ignorant of the battle raging in his head. Was this the moment he was waiting for?

Was Morgana really powerful enough to do this kind of magic? She couldn’t be. But as he continued to argue with himself, Morgana reached Arthur.

“No, eye contact is not enough.” She explained. “Direct contact is needed.”

Reaching out, she gently ran her fingers down Arthur’s arm, opening his mind to her. Anything and everything she wanted to know about Arthur and the inner workings of Camelot was there for the taking. Every secret, his love for Gwen, the truth about the death of his mother, it was all hers.

The feeling of Morgana sifting through his thoughts was indescribable. But he immediately knew that’s what she was doing. As much as he wanted to fight her off, he didn’t know how too. He was absolutely powerless. He caught short glimpses of the thoughts and memories as she sifted though his head. When she finally came across his feelings for Gwen he struggled even harder against his chains. He’d never felt so violated and helpless in his entire life. 

After what felt like an eternity, the connection was finally broken. In reality she had only run her fingers down the length of his arm, but the whole encounter left him gasping for breath. He was exhausted. 

“With a single touch I have access to everything - every though, memory, secret, and desire – it’s all mine for the taking.” She boasted. Finally leaving Arthur’s side, and she slowly began making her way towards Merlin, who was still struggling, even more so as she got closer.

She turned to face Arthur again. “Now with Arthur I’ll get to learn all the secrets of Camelot’s defenses. And when I finally attack Camelot and claim my rightful place on the throne, Uther won’t know what hit him.” She bragged.

“But Merlin on the other hand,” she turned her attention back to the servant who was no longer struggling. “There’s so much I want to know about you.” She kneeled down in front of the boy looking him in the eye once again. 

“But the one thing I want to know above all else, even more than anything in Arthur’s head, is how you, a worthless servant, always seem to get in the way of every single one of my plans.” She hissed at him in contempt. 

“Something always seems to go wrong, and you continuously seem to be at the heart of it – thwarting me over and over again.” She finally shouted, he anger rising.

She took a deep breath and collected herself before putting the cruel smile back on her face.

“But not anymore.” She whispered.

At long last, she reached forward and pressed the tips of her fingers to Merlin’s forehead, reaching into the depths of his mind.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just to clear up any possible confusion, this chapter starts with another flashback.

“In the end, both the kings and High Priestesses agreed that the practice of reading another’s mind would become punishable by death and death alone.” Gaius emphasized with a sense of finality. 

“Gaius-“ he paused, uncertain about whether he should continue. “There is one thing I’m curious about, and if you don’t want to tell me then I completely understand, but I have to ask.” Gaius gave him a small nod.

“These High Priestesses, was it possible for anyone to close their minds to them - to be able to block them from reading their thoughts?”

Gaius sat there for another minute contemplating how to answer the question.

“It was possible, yes. With enough practice anyone, both men and sorcerers, could shield their minds from being read by one of the High Priestesses.”

But that wasn’t it; Merlin could feel that there was more to it then that. 

“But…” Merlin pressed, knowing the older man was leaving something out.

“But…” he let out another small sigh. The young sorcerer knew him well; well enough to know when he wasn’t being told the complete truth. 

“You have to remember Merlin, the Priestesses of Truth were some of the most powerful creatures of the Old Religion who had spent centuries perfecting their skills. So yes, a person could close their mind to them, but only for a short period of time. With enough time, the Priestesses would be able to break through the mind of even the most powerful of sorcerers. Sorcerers who had not only used their magic to aid them, but had also spent years building a wall in their minds to block them out. Those few men and sorcerers who worked to build this wall in their minds were aware it would not protect them forever, they just hoped it would give them the time they needed to escape…” Gaius’ voiced faltered at the end.

Yes there was more to the story that Gaius was willing to tell, but Merlin could see the toll it was taking on the man and he wasn’t going to push him any further that night. Maybe one day Gaius would tell him the rest of the story, but that was enough for now.

Merlin sighed and gave Gaius’ hands a squeeze. 

“Gaius, how would you feel about a hot cup of tea?” Merlin gave him a warm smile.

Gaius let out a relieved laugh. “That sounds wonderful.”

-

As Morgana began approaching the young sorcerer, he decided that he had to at least try to block his mind from her. Whether she pulled it out of his thoughts, or he used it to escape, either way she and Arthur would find out about his magic. Trying to block her out was the only way to protect his secret, even if it was only for a little while longer. 

He knew that Morgana was powerful, but there was no way she could be as powerful as the High Priestesses of legend. Sure he had never attempted to close his mind before, but he was Emrys after all – that had to count for something.

The thought made him chuckle. Sure he was Emrys, but he still wasn’t fully in control of his powers. There was so much he still didn’t know; so much he still needed to learn. He just hoped he knew enough to block her out for a little while - enough to give them time to escape. So he put up a wall. 

Morgana was now kneeling in front of him, mumbling something or another, but he wasn’t paying attention. He was too busy, focused on concentrating all his magic and power into this wall in his head.

His focus finally snapped back to Morgana in just enough time to see her fingers nearing his forehead, just enough time to prepare for the impact. The feeling of her magic rushing into his head and crashing into his makeshift wall was immediate, but it held. 

After a couple of seconds the connection finally broke, leaving his heart racing. Keeping the wall up as she attempted to force her way into his mind wasn’t exactly easy and it required all his attention, but he did it.

Morgana on the other hand looked like she was about to explode. 

“H…how?” She stuttered. When she saw the smug grin appear on the servant’s face she lost it.

“HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE?” She demanded, her voice echoing in the chamber. She couldn’t even look at his face anymore. She stood up; backing away from the boy she had once considered a friend. She had been told this was possible - completely unlikely - but possible.

Morgause taught her the ways of the High Priestesses of Truth; how to enter someone’s unwilling mind to get the information she needed – among other things. They spent months and months practicing on various subjects, sorcerers and men. And not a single one of them had been able to block her invasion into their minds.

Morgause had also told her that during the days of the High Priestesses of Truth, there had been a handful of individuals who could temporarily close their minds with enough practice. To prove her point she forced Morgana to try and read her mind, but she always failed – never able to break through the wall Morgause had constructed in her head. 

Forcing her way though into an average persons mind took very little effort. But it hadn’t always been that way. In the beginning it took every bit of strength she possessed to force her way in. It took months before she could extract the information she needed without passing out. 

So when she began her attempts at forcing her way into Morgause’s mind, it was almost as if she were back at the beginning; using all of her strength to break through her sister’s wall. 

Though she may have never succeeded in breaking through into her sister’s mind, the practice made her even stronger. Soon, forcing her way into other people’s heads became as easy as reading a book. It was almost second nature to her. Cracking open the book and finding the information she needed. 

So when she attempted to enter Merlin’s mind, she recognized the wall as soon as she ran into it. It was nowhere near as strong as her sister’s had been, but it was a wall all the same – keeping her from getting the information she so desperately desired. And it infuriated her.

That’s when she began laughing manically. 

“Why am I not surprised?” She said venomously, glaring at her prisoner. “If anyone on the godforsaken earth could stop me from entering his or her mind it would be you wouldn’t it Merlin? The unsuspecting and traitorous servant that never ceases to be a thorn in my side.” She spat with malice. 

Arthur was dumbfounded. Merlin had somehow managed to stop Morgana from entering his mind. Like Morgana, he wanted to know how he had done it. But Morgana’s words made he let out an involuntary scoff. 

Her eyes immediately shot towards him. “And tell me dear brother, what do you find so amusing?” 

“Merlin is many things Morgana. Incompetent at times – yes. Clumsy and disrespectful – yes.” He could practically hear Merlin rolling his eyes from across the room. 

“But a traitor? Really Morgana? Merlin doesn’t have a traitorous bone is his scrawny body.”

Morgana looked at him incredulously then let out an unbelieving laugh. He looked to his right to Merlin, to see if he could get some hint as to why Morgana found this so hilarious, but he couldn’t make eye contact with the boy. Merlin’s eye’s where closed and he was shaking his head, apparently Arthur just said the completely wrong thing. It was clear that he should have just kept his mouth shut.

“Oh this is just too good.” She exclaimed, looking as if Christmas had come early. She made her way in front of Merlin again. 

“You never told him did you?” She questioned Merlin excitedly. 

Of course he never told Arthur. How was he suppose to tell Arthur that he had poisoned Morgana, sure he did it to save Camelot, but that didn’t matter. It would bring up too many questions Merlin didn’t want to answer – questions he couldn’t answer, like how he knew that killing Morgana would stop the sleeping curse? It was safer to just leave Arthur in the dark.

“Arthur, I’m sorry. I should have told y-“ But before he could finish the sentence, Morgana lashed her arm out and backhanded him - one of her rings opening a gash right below his left eye. 

“You keep your filthy mouth shut.” She warned him. “You had your chance to tell him what you did. To tell him how you poisoned me.” She hissed.

She let the words sink in. Poisoned. 

Arthur didn’t believe her. Merlin couldn’t hurt a fly much less poison a person. Why would Morgana say that? 

“Merlin would never pois-“

“Oh but he did.” She assured him. “Back during Morgause’s first assault on Camelot, when Camelot fell under her sleeping curse and you, Merlin, and I were the only ones left awake.”

Arthur could remember that day clearly, back when Morgana was still Morgana. The thought put a sad smile on his face. Back before she let anger and hate fill her heart. What he wouldn’t give to have that Morgana back.

Why would Merlin poison her then? But when he looked to his friend to deny the accusations, all he saw was the guilt and pain on his face. She was telling the truth – Merlin had poisoned Morgana.

“I was your friend.” She hissed. “Running around the castle with you two idiots trying to help save Uther. And you poisoned me. If it wasn’t for Morgause I would have died that day, no thanks to you.”

Morgana now knew why Merlin had poisoned her that day. It was the only way to stop Morgause’s assault on Camelot, but that didn’t make it hurt any less. She had trusted him and he betrayed her. She spent the next year plotting her revenge - revenge against Camelot, Uther, and Merlin.

“But you were suspicious of me from the very second I stepped foot back into Camelot.” She said shaking her head.

“Everything was in place, Uther driven insane from the Mandrake root I planted in his chambers; and Morgause at the head of Cenred’s army ready to attack. And I though I was finally going to get my revenge when you followed me into the woods that night. Being the nosy little shit that you are, you just couldn’t let things be could you? 

“Morgause bound you with chains that were enchanted to be unbreakable that night, and we left you in the middle of the woods, surround by Serkets. You should have died then and there, yet somehow you still managed to escape without a scratch on you.” She finished in a tone of disbelief. 

“Well that’s not completely true.” Merlin admitted, the words coming out of his mouth before he could stop himself.

Morgana and Arthur both looked at him in shock. 

“What do you mean?” Arthur asked before Morgana could get the chance.

Merlin sighed, wishing he had just kept his mouth shut. 

“I didn’t escape unharmed.” He elaborated. “I was there in the woods surrounded by Serket’s and I was stung in the back. Within seconds I fell unconscious. When I came to some hours later, I was alone and free from the chains Morgause bound me with. Someone or something saved me that night.” He explained with a hint of fondness in his voice.

Without saying a word Morgana rushed forward and grabbed Merlin, turning his body so that she could see his back, forcing his arms to twist unnaturally above his head. 

She wrenched his shirt up his back, and there clear as day was the scar left by the Serket sting running between his shoulder blades and down the length of his back. Even from across the room, Arthur could see the large scar left on his friends. 

He was livid - angry with both Morgana and Merlin. He was angry with Morgana for leaving Merlin in the woods at the mercy of the Serkets - and angry with Merlin for not telling him about it. 

Yes he was the prince of Camelot and Merlin his servant, but still. As much as Arthur tried to deny it, Merlin was more than just his servant – he was a friend. The image of the boy chained up in the woods, in the middle of the night, surrounded by Serkets was burned in his brain. Apparently he didn’t know Merlin as well as he thought he did – and for some reason that thought hurt. 

If he ever finds the person who saved Merlin that night he’d be sure to thank them, maybe even give them a knighthood – no, maybe that was a little too much. How would he ever repay the man that saved the life of his friend? But his thoughts were cut short as Morgana started talking again.

Morgana flung Merlin against the wall, back into his original position, his head cracking against the stone again causing him to wince.

“So it is true. Stung by a Serket, yet somehow you still managed to survive. Had you died that night like you were suppose to, Camelot would have fallen with you. Cenred’s forces together with Morgause’s army of the dead would have taken Camelot, but there you were again. While the battle raged above, I was left to guard the Staff of Rowan, but you couldn’t leave well enough alone Merlin. I have no doubt it was you who destroyed the staff after I was knocked unconscious. How you did it – I don’t know. But I do intend to find out.” She vowed.

The revelations just kept coming. Merlin, not Morgana, had saved Camelot that day. When all hope was lost, Morgause’s army of the dead collapsed before Arthur’s very eyes. Camelot praised and thanked Morgana for her bravery that fateful day, but apparently it wasn’t her doing at all. It was Merlin who saved Camelot, and from the way Morgana spoke about the servant, she made it sound as if he had done this on multiple occasions. 

He examined the boy who sat chained to the wall a short distance away from him. Trying to really look at him. His face was dirty; blood was running down his cheek from the newly received cut and a bruise already forming around it. Besides that, he still looked like the same Merlin he’d known for years, but now there was something different. It was as if there was another layer to the boy that had been invisible to the prince before that moment, a layer that was there for Arthur to see for the first time. Suddenly he felt like he didn’t know Merlin at all. 

“I’m not telling you anything Morgana.” Merlin assured her. 

Morgana only smiled. The boy had no idea how easy she had gone on him the first time she attempted to reach into his mind. She had barely even tried. She was looking forward to breaking him.

“Oh really?” She kneeled down in front of Merlin again. She wasn’t going to hold back this time.

She reached up with both hands, her fingers running through the hair on the side of his head till her thumbs were resting on each side of his temple.

“We’ll see about that.” With that she grasped his head in each hand, her fingers digging into the gash in the back of his head, causing pain to shot through him once again.

Almost instantaneously, Merlin realized that this time was different. His wall was up, but she was no longer just pushing against it. It was a full on assault, her magic ramming into the wall. It took every ounce of magic and strength he had to keep her at bay. And he could feel it – he was fighting a losing battle. He wasn’t sure how much longer her could hold her off.

Just when he though he might lose it, she let off. He was physically and mentally exhausted. His head fell limp in Morgana’s hands. He was gasping for breath and his body was shaking uncontrollably. 

“Please…Morgana.” He pleaded, his voice barely above a whisper. “Please…stop.” 

Morgana’s hand snaked down to his chin and lifted his head up so she could look him in the eye.

“Begging doesn’t suit you Merlin.” She said triumphantly. While Merlin looked as if he was about to pass out, Morgana looked radiant. She hadn’t even broken a sweat.

“This is new.” She said sounding amused, turning Merlin’s head to the side – a steady stream of blood was now dripping out of the servants nose. 

He was panicking as he tried to reach for his magic only to realize he couldn’t. In his attempt to block Morgana from his mind, he pushed himself to far. His exhaustion had rendered his magic practically useless. He attempted to use his magic to break his chain – it should have been simple – but his magic just let off sparks inside him, refusing to light.

“I don’t know what secret you’re trying to shield from me Merlin, but I’ll know soon enough. You and I both know that wall you have constructed isn’t going to last much longer.” 

Tears were now falling from his blood shot eyes. “Please…Morgana…”

But before he knew it her hands were back around his head and the assault continued.

Across the room Arthur was struggling even harder against his chains. From what he could tell, the toll of Morgana’s attack on Merlin was significantly more than it had been on him. He didn’t know what secret Merlin was trying to hide from his crazed sister, but Arthur didn’t want her to reach it. Something inside him, some deep instinct that he couldn’t explain, told him that if Morgana learned whatever secret Merlin was trying to hide, they would all be in danger. His struggle became more desperate when Merlin let out a blood-curdling scream. She was almost there and there was nothing he could do to help his friend.

His wall was weakening; Morgana could feel it, any moment it would crumble under the strength of her power.

Then she felt is, his wall cracked. But his mind was different from any she’d ever penetrated before. As soon as the crack opened she felt a rush of warmth was over her, a fire in his very soul, so different from any mind she’d ever read before. She was almost worried and was about to back away when an image escaped through the crack.

A clear image of Merlin’s face, his shocking blue eyes piercing, almost staring into her soul. She didn’t understand, why was this image so important. Out of everything Merlin could be hiding, what made this image significant? But then it happened, the image changed, his eyes morphed from their natural blue to pools of molten gold - swirling and coming to life right in front of her.

The revelation hit her like a ton of bricks – this is what Merlin had been fighting so desperately to keep hidden. 

He had magic.


	5. Chapter 5

His eyes morphed from their natural blue to pools of molten gold - swirling and coming to life right in front of her.

The revelation hit her like a ton of bricks – this is what he had been fighting so desperately to keep hidden. Merlin had magic.

She immediately snatched her hands away from the sorcerer and backed away, trying to put as much space between them as physically possible. 

“Y-you.” She stuttered when her back finally hit the wall. 

In that moment her mind was flickering through so many distinctive sensations, unsure of which one to grasp on to. Her mind was fighting between a mixture of shock, fear, and confusion. How was it possible that the boy sitting in front of her was a sorcerer?

But then something hit her – an emotion that rose up and overshadowed all the rest, a burning rage that flared up inside and consumed her. Merlin had magic.

“You.” She hissed, advancing on him again, no longer afraid but determined. Before Merlin could utter a single word, she grabbed his head in her hands again. She had to know. How long? How long had Merlin had magic?

With the strength of her anger behind her now, breaking through the rest of Merlin’s wall was no problem – searching through his mind for something that might answer her question. It wasn’t long before she found the answer to her question in a memory.

\- - - - 

Merlin felt alive walking through the forest that afternoon. As much as his mother lectured him about wondering off by his self, he always seemed to find his feet carrying him down the same familiar path through the wooded area. 

But something about that day was different. There was something in the way the crisp autumn air was flowing and dancing through the trees around him, the sound and feel of the fallen leaves crunching beneath his feet. It was if the woods and earth were buzzing all around him – he could feel it in his bones. 

He loved Ealdor, but under the cover of the woods, he felt at one with himself and nature.

It wasn’t long before he arrived at the small pond and situated himself on the waters edge.

In Ealdor, Merlin felt like he was constantly living on edge, afraid that someone might discover his secret. But when ventured into the woods, where he knew no one else would dare go, he felt like he could finally be himself – like he could at long last breathe.

Merlin leaned over the edge of the pond till he could see his reflection in smooth surface of the water.

Merlin had been aware of his magic for as long as he could remember - able to move objects across a room before he could even walk. Magic was just a part of who he was – a fire that burned at the center of his heart.

As he examined himself in the water, paying special attention to his eyes, he let his magic fill him. And in the waters surface, he watched as his eyes shifted, their usual blue color changing, consumed by a molten gold. 

The stillness of the water was broken as Merlin used his magic to force a small ball of water out of the pond into the air. With another flash of his eyes, the ball of water formed itself into the shape of a fish and began swimming through the air above the pond.

Merlin knew it wouldn’t be long till he would have to return home for dinner, but at least he could enjoy those last few moments of freedom. He knew that once he left the cover of the woods, he would have to go back to pretending he was just like everyone else, back to hiding whom he really was.

\- - - - 

Morgana pulled out of the memory and back into reality. Merlin had been in possession of his magic long before he arrived in Camelot all those years ago. In the memory he couldn’t have been older than 11 years old, and he already had some control over his magic. Without any spell or incantation he was able to manipulate the water to his will.

Which meant that when she told Merlin she had magic, he could have helped her. He knew how scared she had been; yet he still feigned ignorance. 

“You knew.” Her whole body was shaking with anger as she dropped his head again.

By this point, the chains shackled around his wrists were the only thing holding the young sorcerer upright, and it was taking Merlin every ounce of energy he possessed to keep himself from falling unconscious. Between the blood loss and his attempt to fight off her mental attack, he was barely managing. 

She knew. No matter how hard he had fought to keep her out, she still managed to force her way in. When she went in for a second time he couldn’t even try and fight her off – it was useless. She was too powerful, and her magic now fueled by her anger only made her more so.

From the second she reentered his mind; he knew exactly what she was looking for. All he could do was watch as she replayed the memory in his head. He had completely forgotten about that day, but as he watched it play in his head, all the feelings he’d experienced that day came flooding back to him. Things use to be so simple back then, before he came to Camelot, before he knew of his destiny and how the entire fate of Albion rested upon his shoulders - the weight of the world crushing down upon him.

“You knew.” Her whole body was shaking with anger as she paced back and forth in front of them.

“You knew that I…and that you…you could have helped…and that.” She paused. “We were friends.” She stammered, unable to form a coherent sentence. She turned her back on him, unable to stop the tears that were now falling from her eyes.

Arthur was no longer struggling in his chains. It was clear that Morgana had found whatever it was that Merlin had been hiding from her – and she wasn’t just angry, but she was hurt. He wasn’t sure what exactly he had been expecting, but her current reaction definitely wasn’t it. 

He had seen Morgana upset before, but this was something more – something worse. She felt betrayed. Merlin had betrayed her somehow, and for the first time in years, he could see a trace of the old Morgana in the woman standing before him. What had Merlin done to cause Morgana this much pain?

“YOU COULD HAVE HELPED ME!” She finally screamed, wrenching around to face him again, no longer trying to hide her tears from them.

Merlin lifted his head to look at her, tears now falling from his eyes as well. She had to understand.

“I’m sorry,” he finally choked out, “I wanted - I wanted to help bu-“ 

But before he could finish his sentence, he felt an invisible hand close around his throat, not only cutting off his words, but his ability to breathe.

“NO!” Morgana shouted, her arm now out in front of her with her fist clenched together so tight that her knuckles began turning white. 

“I don’t want to hear it Merlin, I don’t want to hear your excuses!”

After a few seconds of watching him struggle, she released her grip from his throat. As much as she wanted to kill him right then and there, there was still so much she wanted – needed to know.

“It all makes sense now.” She said with a dark laugh. “How you’ve managed to interfere in all my plans, every unlikely escape, and every time everything seemed to work out in Arthur’s favor. It was never luck or coincidence.” She said incredulously. 

“It was just you.” She finished, shaking her head in disbelief. Without saying a word, Morgana quickly exited the room, leaving Arthur and Merlin alone for the first time since they had been captured. 

If it was possible, Arthur was even more confused than he had been before. What in the world was Morgana talking about? As frustrated as he was at being the only one left in the dark about Merlin’s secret and how it connected everything together, he couldn’t bring himself to care all the much. He was too concerned with the current state of his manservant – no. His friend. 

At first glance he appeared to be all but dead, but as Arthur strained to look closer he could see the small rise and fall of the boys chest as he struggled to breathe. The bruise and cut on his face, though prominent, were no longer the first things that his eyes were drawn to. Instead it was the stream of blood that was running down his face from his nose – slowly dripping from his chin, forming a small pool of blood on the floor in front of him.

Over the years Arthur had seen men hurt, bloodied, and killed in the heat of battle. Arthur had even killed men himself. But something about seeing his servant and friend in this state felt wrong. 

Merlin was supposed to have a goofy smile plastered on his face and making snide remarks as he called Arthur a prat. He wasn’t supposed to look like this – beaten, broken, and on the verge of death. 

“Merlin.” Arthur pleaded under his breath. “Please tell me you can hear me.”

They had to get out of there. Arthur didn’t care what he had to do; he was going to get Merlin to safety.

“I’m – so sorry Arthur.” He muttered, his voice cracking, not even bothering to lift his head from its current position.

“Merlin will you please shut up? That’s not important right now.” Arthur pointed out as he began examining the chains that were shackled around his wrist above his head, trying to look for a weak point. 

“No.“ He heard Merlin say in a hushed tone. “I should have told you.” He muttered sounding completely defeated. 

This brought Arthur attention back to him, completely forgetting about the chains that bound him.

“I’m so sorry.” He apologized again, his words becoming more desperate and broken. 

“I can’t save you.”

Merlin was suppose to be telling Arthur that they would escape and that everything was going to be okay, he was always so full of hope even in the most hopeless of situations. But that Merlin was gone, the man sitting before him now was almost unrecognizable – a shell of the man he once knew.

Arthur didn’t know how to explain it, but Merlin was like a light, always so full of life and optimism, always there for Arthur in the darkest moments of his life. Those moments when Arthur felt like he couldn’t continue on, Merlin was always there to give him the push he needed to keep going. But that fire was gone now. 

“It’s not your job to save me Merlin. You’re job is to polish my armor and stumble around being the clumsy and useless servant that you are and leave the life saving to me.” Arthur joked, hoping to get a small laugh from the boy, but he got nothing. Just silence.

“We’re going to get out of this Merlin, I promise you. I’ll get us home.” Arthur said trying to assure not only the boy, but himself as well. They had to get out of there.

“I should have told you.” Merlin repeated again. “I should have told you that I-“

At that moment Morgana decided to re-enter the room, successfully cutting Merlin off mid sentence. 

With the flick of her wrist, the shackles holding Merlin upright disappeared. With the chains no longer holding him in place, Merlin immediately crumbled into a lifeless heap on the dungeon floor at Morgana’s feet. 

Not even paying him the slightest bit of attention, Morgana stepped over him and fastened a new set of chains to the dungeon wall. 

Once they were secure, Morgana lifted Merlin’s lifeless body into the air and locked the new set of chains around the sorcerer’s wrists. The new set even tighter than the previous ones had been, so that once Merlin’s full weight was on them, they easily cut into his wrists, which had already been rubbed raw from the previous set, now leaving angry red gashes that left blood trickling down the length of his arms.

The second the new shackles were in place, Merlin could feel the effect they had and why Morgana went to retrieve them. The last bit of warmth in his chest left and his magic disappeared – the chains blocking all access he had to his magic.

The next thing he felt was a cloth being shoved into his mouth. Then another cloth was tied around his mouth and neck to keep the first one in place. Merlin had though he felt powerless before, but that could even compare how helpless he felt in that moment. All hope really was lost.

“Now that’s better.” Morgana stood back, admiring her work. Seeing Merlin so completely helpless and broken at her feet filled her with a new level of satisfaction. 

“Do you want know what the best part of this whole situation is Merlin?” She asked, kneeling down in front of the sorcerer again, not expecting him to even acknowledge her.

“I didn’t even realize it till I was on my way back from getting your new bonds.” She paused again. 

“Arthur doesn’t know does he?” The satisfaction was dripping from her voice and a knowing smile slowly grew on her face.

Merlin’s head shot up and their eyes met, his eyes pleading and full of fear. 

She was going to tell Arthur and there was nothing he could do to stop her.


	6. Chapter 6

“Arthur doesn’t know does he?” The satisfaction was dripping from her voice as knowing smile slowly grew on her face.

Merlin’s head shot up and their eyes met, his eyes pleading and full of fear. 

Morgana was going to tell Arthur and there was nothing he could do to stop her. 

“He doesn’t know your dirty little secret.” She continued, the excitement growing in her voice. 

“He doesn’t know that you ha-“

“Enough Morgana.” Arthur interjected, cutting her off mid sentence. Morgana and Merlin turned to look at the prince, both having momentarily forgotten that he was also in the room with them.

Arthur had been conflicted. Every fiber of his being had wanted Morgana to finish that sentence so that he could finally know Merlin’s secret. But a small voice in the very back of his head fought back, telling him to stop her before she finally revealed the secret. The look of relief that shone through Merlin’s eyes when he interrupted her was all the proof he needed to realize that he had made the right decision.

Morgana gave the prince a puzzled look.

“But don’t you want to know?” She implored; completely confused as to why Arthur wanted to remain in the dark.

“Do you not want to know what he’s been hiding from you?” She continued.

“You can’t deny it Arthur. There’s a part of you that’s dying to know – to know what your beloved servant has been lying to you about for years?” She questioned, genuinely curious as to why he didn’t want to know.

Arthur felt his stomach drop. He had accepted the fact that Merlin had kept a secret from him – everyone had their secrets didn’t they? But the very idea that Merlin had been not only keeping a secret from him, but had also been lying to him for over five years felt like a slap in the face. 

Arthur could understand why Merlin would keep something from him in the early days of knowing each other, but over the years Arthur felt that their relationship had developed into something more – a friendship based on trust. In all honestly, Merlin was probably the only person he felt he could be completely honest with, and he thought that Merlin had felt the same way, but apparently he had been wrong in that assumption.

Before that day, Arthur had thought he had known Merlin fairly well, but now he felt as if he didn’t know the man at all. Knowing that his friend and servant had been lying to him for the entire time they’d known each other felt like a stab in the back. But even with all the new information coming to light and this massive secret of his still hanging in the air, Arthur still trusted the man. 

If Merlin felt that he needed to lie to Arthur for all those years, than he must have a pretty good reason for doing it – a reason that Merlin would be explaining to Arthur if they ever got out of their current predicament. 

Arthur let out a resigned sigh. “I can’t deny that there’s a part of me that wants to know, but whatever this secret is, I’m sure there’s a reason why Merlin didn’t tell me.” He explained, keeping eye contact with Merlin. 

“And I’m sure that in time, when Merlin felt ready, he would have told me himself.” Arthur finished, trying to make sure that Merlin understood that he didn’t blame him for keeping this secret from him. Arthur could see the regret and pain fill the servant’s eyes as soon as he finished. 

He should have trusted Arthur. As much as Arthur tried to hide it, Merlin could see just how hurt the prince was – how hurt he was when he realized that Merlin didn’t trust him, that he had been lying to him since the day they first met. All he wanted to do was apologize to Arthur, and tell him that he did trust him, and that if they did somehow manage to escape, that he would tell him everything, every single detail – that there would be no more secrets between them.

If it were possible, Morgana was even more perplexed by her brother’s complete and utter trust in his servant. She had thought she had known Arthur reasonably well, but apparently she had completely underestimated just how close he and his servant had become. Even after revealing to him that he had been lied to for years, for some reason the prince still believed that he could trust the sorcerer. What had Merlin done to earn this level of trust from him? 

As much as she wanted to reveal Merlin’s secret right then and there, she wanted to know more about this friendship of theirs. She wanted to know how this one servant managed to change the young, spoiled, and arrogant prince she had once known, into this completely different person. 

But more importantly, she wanted to know how Arthur had managed to earn Merlin’s loyalty – the loyalty of a sorcerer.

Leaning in closer to her prisoner, Morgana cradled Merlin’s head in her hands once again. She had to understand.

She first needed to know just how many times Merlin had saved Arthur’s life over the years. With the enchanted cuffs now secured around his wrist, entering Merlin’s mind was no longer a challenge.

One after another, she observed the memories racing through Merlin’s head. Time and time again she saw Merlin saving Arthur’s life – never asking for thanks or recognition and always in the shadows. Yes, she had expected to see Merlin using his magic to save Arthur’s life on a few occasions, but the sheer amount of times it had happened took her by surprise, so many times that she began to lose count. Had it not been for the veiled protection from his servant, Arthur would have been dead long ago.

Arthur would have died within days of meeting Merlin for the first time.

If she was going to be honest with herself, Morgana envied their friendship. Once upon a time she could have compared Merlin and Arthur’s friendship to her and Gwen’s, but that was a long time ago and so much has changed since then. And as much as she hated to admit it, she missed that bond of friendship more than anything in the world.

“But why Merlin?” She inquired, squeezing her eyes together in frustration. She was even more confused as she continued to sift through his memories – now moving on through memories of Arthur yelling at the servant, throwing things at him, Merlin being thrown in jail, poisoned, being physically and verbally abused over and over again.

“Arthur has no idea just how many times you’ve walked willingly into deaths arms to protect his life. Day in and day out he continues to treat you life dirt, yet your loyalty is unwavering.” She elaborated, now shaking her head

She pulled out of his mind, her hands moving down his face and coming to rest underneath his jaw, her hold on his face now gentle and almost caring. She carefully reached around and removed the gag from the servant’s mouth.

Merlin feebly opened his eyes to meet Morgana’s. The anger and hate that had preciously consumed them were gone, only to be filled with something akin to concern and worry.

“You know what he would do if he found out – what Uther would do to you if he knew.” She said, stating the reality they both knew to be true. 

He had always known that if Arthur or Uther found out that about his magic that he would be sentenced to death in a heart beat. As much as he tried to push this thought into the back of his mind, he couldn’t hide from the truth that stared him in the face day in and day out. 

“I know.” Merlin finally confessed under his breath, his voice breaking. He closed his eyelids once again, forcing a tear to escape down his battered and bruised face. 

As much as he wanted to tell Arthur, it was this reality that kept him silent through the years – that and he was fearful of what Arthur’s reaction would be to finding out. For years it had haunted his dreams, the thought of Arthur feeling betrayed, repulsed, and even afraid of him was almost too much for Merlin to handle. The idea of completely losing Arthur’s trust was enough to shatter his very soul into pieces.

“Then why Merlin? Why do you continue to risk your life to save his when you know what would happen?”

“Because I-“ but he stopped himself. No, she couldn’t know. After all her probing and prodding through his mind, he still managed to keep his true identity a secret.

Morgana let out a disappointed sigh. He was still keeping something from her – one last secret. 

“You know I’ll find out Merlin, whether you like it or not.”

“Please Morgana.” Merlin pleaded with her. This final secret would be the end of them. He should have kept his mouth shut. There was no keeping her out of his mind; she would use every bit of her magic to force this final secret out of him.

“I’m sorry Merlin.” She uttered with complete sincerity. And with those words she dove back into the depths of his mind.

On the other side of the room, Arthur remained completely silent as he observed the interaction between his sister and his friend, completely bewildered by their conversation. His heart all but stopped when Morgana mentioned Merlin walking willingly into death’s arms to protect his life, and that he had done this on multiple occasions. 

Everything about the idea of Merlin protecting him was wrong; Arthur was supposed to be protecting Merlin, not the other way around. And why had he remained silent. Why did Merlin not tell Arthur about this? Memories of Arthur calling Merlin useless and an idiot rang through his head, the guilt becoming overwhelming. Then the realization hit him – he didn’t deserve a friend like Merlin.

Then there was Morgana’s reaction. Her tenderness towards the servant was almost unsettling. In a matter of minutes her fury morphed into something he could only describe as concern. The entire situation made him uncomfortable.

But alas, apparently there was one more secret left uncovered. How was it possible that Merlin had something else to hide? And he was dreading what her response would transform into once she found out. The fact that Merlin was still trying to hide something from her in his current state terrified Arthur. Whatever her reaction would be, it was not going to be good.

As she continued to sift through his mind, she could feel Merlin attempting to direct her away from the information she was so desperately searching for. But as hard as he tried to keep her from the truth, in the end she got the information she desired. 

First was the reflection of an old man staring back at her from a mirror. And then she recognized him; it was the old sorcerer that had taken responsibility for enchanting both Arthur and Gwen; the same sorcerer that appeared to her night after night, haunting her dreams – her doom.

“But I don’t understand.” Morgana muttered. 

“What does the old man have to do with-“

In that moment she was flooded with the information she so desperately wanted. But from all the memories, one in particular hit her the hardest.

It was an image of a young Mordred standing in front of the servant. And though his mouth remained unmoved, his voice rang plainly in her head, speaking to Merlin. The young druid’s words clear as day.

“Hello Emrys.”

There it was – the finally piece of the puzzle that made sense of everything. The prophecies of the Once and Future King that would unite the land of Albion with the help of the great warlock Emrys overwhelmed her mind as they came flooding in. 

Emrys – the man who was prophesized to be the most powerful sorcerer who had ever lived and would ever live, who was sworn to protect the life of the Once and Future King – no matter what the cost. Her doom.

She violently ripped herself out of his mind, her eyes showing no evidence of the concern that had been there only moments before. The rage in them was enough to strike fear into the hearts of even the bravest of men, and every ounce of it was directed towards the man chained to the wall in front of her. Her breaths became ragged as she attempted to control her newly discovered rage – more powerful than anything she had ever felt before.

“You’re Emrys.” She finally stuttered.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm planning on editing a few more chapters tomorrow, but until then I hope you all have enjoyed this update.

“Emrys.” She finally stuttered.

Her breaths became ragged as she attempted to control her newly fueled rage – a fury more powerful than anything she had ever experienced before. 

She was losing control. The air all around them in the small room was practically buzzing – filled with the magic that was overflowing out of Morgana as the name Emrys still echoed in the stillness. As her anger grew, the ground beneath their feet began to tremble. 

Emrys. Something about the name sounded familiar to Arthur, but for the life of him he couldn’t recall where he had heard it before. Or better yet, why the name filled him with a sense of significance and foreboding. Why was this Emrys so important? And what did he have to do with Merlin?

As soon as Merlin saw Morgana focus in on the memory in his head, he knew that they were in trouble. From the instant Mordred’s spoke the name given to him by the druids, he felt a change come over Morgana. Long gone was any sense of concern from Morgana – now there was only fury raging through her veins, filling her to the brim and threatening to burst out of her at any moment.

There was no doubt that they had been in danger before that moment, but now the threat was more imminent. With her hands still clutching onto his head, Merlin could feel her magic spiraling out of control. One wrong word from him or Arthur and her magic would burst. 

Even in his current weak state, Merlin was fairly certain he would survive the explosion, but only because his body was used to having magic living within it – existing in the core of his very being. But Arthur was a completely different story. Arthur’s body had no experience taking in magic, especially the unstable form that was rapidly escaping from Morgana. 

Morgana may not have realized it herself, but if she lost control and let the full force of her magic snap, then there would be nothing either of them could do to save Arthur – he would be dead before Morgana knew what she had done. 

She needed to get in control of her emotions, but deep down Merlin could see that it wasn’t going to happen. It didn’t take long for him to realize what had to happen.

Even though the majority of her anger was directed towards the sorcerer chained up in front of her, it wasn’t necessarily focused on him – instead it was churning in the air all around them. He needed her to focus it on a single target and release it. He needed her to focus it on him.

But to do this he would have to make her even angrier than she already was – he needed to provoke her, but without his magic at his disposal, his choices were a bit limited. 

An idea hit him. Thankfully, Morgana was still close enough to him that the foolish plan of his might just work - and to be honest, it might just be one of the stupidest and most dangerous plans he’d ever come up with. 

But if it worked, if it actually worked, then it could save Arthur’s life and that was all that mattered. He didn’t even want to think about what would happen to him if he actually succeeded. Taking on the full force of her magic might just be enough to kill him, but he had to try. He had to save Arthur.

Merlin stole one last glance at the prince and took a deep breath.

“I’m sorry.” He finally muttered to his friend. 

Gathering what little strength he had left in him, Merlin slammed his head forward, and crashed it into Morgana’s.

Despite the fact that Arthur had never possessed any sort of magic, he could sense the overwhelming presence of it that was radiating off his sister. It was cold and almost electric, and even with his lack of knowledge on how magic and sorcery actually worked, he knew that it was dangerous – that Morgana was losing control. He could feel it in his bones - she was going to explode. 

He looked back to Merlin again, fully expecting to see him wearing a fearful look upon his face, and he did – for about half a second. Then to Arthur’s surprise, the servant’s face shifted into one of determination. When Merlin finally turned to face him, Arthur could once again see the regret that covered his face – in the resigned look in his eyes.

Then barely above a whisper, he heard Merlin utter a broken, “I’m sorry.”

Arthur knew instantly that it wasn’t just an apology – it was a goodbye. Arthur’s eyes flashed - What was Merlin doing?

Before he could realize what was happening, he saw Merlin jerk forward, smashing his head right into Morgana’s face. 

To say Merlin’s quick movements had taken Arthur by surprise would have been an understatement, but nothing would compare to Morgana’s reaction to the sudden action.

In the space of a few seconds, Arthur could feel the magic that Morgana was putting off into the air swell as if it were about to burst, but then almost instantly it snapped back – receding back into his sister and the ground below them stilled.

Just as Arthur was about to let out a sigh of relief, he took in the look on Morgana’s face. In that instant, Arthur didn’t think there was a word that could accurately describe the extreme level that Morgana’s rage had reached, it was unnatural and twisted. And it was all focused on Merlin. She slowly stood up and took a few steps back from the sorcerer.

Morgana gradually brought a shaky hand up to her nose. When she pulled it back and saw her own scarlet blood staining her hand, she lost it. 

Taking in a deep breath, she let out an earth-shattering scream that caused the very ground beneath them the quake.

That’s when it happened. In a flash her eyes blazed into molten gold and her magic exploded out of her very skin.

Never in his life had Arthur actually witnessed this kind of magic before. Sure he had seen sorcerers conjure spells on multiple occasions, but he could visibly see Morgana’s magic pouring out of her and firing straight into Merlin’s chest.

The second her magic made contact with Merlin, he let out a piercing scream – so full of agony and pain. A scream that would no doubt haunt Arthur for the rest of his life. 

All he could do was sit there helplessly as his friend took in the full strength of Morgana’s rage and fury – the force of her magic lifting Merlin’s rigid body off the ground, his back arching to the air.

All at once, Morgana’s fury fueled scream warped into one full of pain as she lost control of the amount of magic escaping from her body. 

Though the entire thing lasted less than ten seconds, it felt like an eternity to Arthur. Sitting there chained to the wall, powerless and unable to help his friend who appeared to be experiencing a pain more excruciating than anything Arthur had ever witnessed. As much as he wanted to look away from the scene before him, he couldn’t tear his eyes away. 

Then in an instant Morgana’s magic snapped – throwing Merlin’s broken body into the wall behind him, with such a force that the wall itself cracked on impact. And Arthur once again watched as his friends body crumpled into a heap on the floor, a steady stream of blood flowing from the reopened wound on the back of his head. 

He didn’t even try and stop the single tear that escaped from his eye. There was nothing Arthur could do, if his friend wasn’t already dead, he would be soon.

In the middle of the room, Morgana came crashing down to her knees, her hands flying forward for support. 

In the beginning, the feeling of her magic exploding out of her very skin was exhilarating - the adrenaline of it overwhelming her as she lost all control of the magic escaping from her. 

But in a matter of seconds the pleasure she had been experiencing turned into excruciating pain. It felt as if every inch of her skin was on fire, like she was burning from the inside out. And as much as she tried to reel her magic back in – to regain some sort of hold of her magic that was spiraling out of control, she couldn’t.

When her knees crashed to the ground, she was unable to stop the bile that rose up her throat. Once her stomach was completely emptied of its contents, she began gasping from breath, her throat burning with each intake of air into her lungs.

She gradually lifted her head to glare at the sorcerer, whose broken body hadn’t moved since it crashed to the ground minutes before. She then turned her head to Arthur, who appeared to escape completely unharmed.

Then it hit her - Merlin had provoked her on purpose. Had she not focused all her hate and anger onto Merlin in those last few seconds, the explosion of her magic would have hit Arthur as well, which most likely would have killed him instantly.

Any other time she would have admired the servant for once again risking his life to save his friend and master - for being so completely and utterly loyal – but it only managed to anger her even more. 

Time and time again Merlin risked his life to save Arthur, the man who would see him burned at the stake if he knew the servant’s secret. And it infuriated her.

She shakily pulled herself to her feet and stumbled towards the lifeless heap that was Merlin. Using her foot, she kicked the boy over onto his back. At first glance he appeared to be dead – his body covered in dirt, cuts and bruises canvassing his skin, but underneath it all she could recognize the barely visible rise and fall of his chest. 

She let out a sigh. “You just refuse to die.”

Across the room, Arthur released a breath that he hadn’t even realize he’d been holding in as a small smile formed on his face. Merlin was alive. He had once again defied all odds and survived.

Morgana lifted her foot and using the toe of her boot, she turned the boy’s face towards her, pressing the dirty sole down on the gash across his cheek.

“What am I going to do with you?” She mused.

“Enough Morgana.” Arthur declared, being fed up with her games. Morgana’s head jerked towards the prince.

“Hasn’t he suffered enough?” the prince pleaded, unable to watch his friend and servant suffer anymore. 

“No Arthur, he hasn’t suffered enough.” She spat. Lifting her boot from the sorcerer’s face, she started making her way towards the prince.

“Don’t you understand? It will never be enough!” She seethed.

“You will never understand what it feels like to have a friend completely turn their back on you when you need them most.” She continued.

“Then finding out that they could have helped.” She barked out a laugh. “You will never understand the feeling of loneliness, that feeling of betrayal, that…” but she stopped before she could finish her sentence. Her face wiped blank and her mouth left hanging open.

Her eyes went wide as she turned her head to glance at the sorcerer on the floor behind her

The room had been completely silent till she uttered a faint “Oh.” 

When she finally turned back to Arthur, the smile plastered on her face sent chills down his spine – striking his very core. Oh no.

By that point Morgana was visibly shaking with excitement. In a matter of seconds, every single plan she had laid out for her two prisoners were thrown completely out the window. She had a new plan.

“Oh.” She repeated again, the excitement continuing to grow in her eyes, only escalating more when she read the fear in Arthur’s eyes.

“I’m sorry dear brother” she smirked, “but it appears that there has been a change of plans.”

The look of joy that covered Morgana’s face absolutely terrified Arthur. He had thought that things were at their absolute worst, but the look on her face told him different – her new plan, whatever it was, was far worse than her previous one.

Quick as a flash, Morgana was kneeled down in front of the prince so they could look each other in eyes.

“I guess this is goodbye for now, but don’t worry Arthur.” she added with a grin. 

“You’ll be seeing me soon.”

Before he could respond, her hands reached up and took a hold around his head. The last thing he could remember was the look of satisfaction on Morgana’s face before he was falling in darkness. 

 

-

 

Merlin. The though of his servant repeating over and over again in his head as he slowly regained consciousnes. Everything else in his mind was a blur, everything but Merlin.

The first thing he become aware of was the presence of something cold and damp resting against his cheek. Next was the feeling of the solid ground beneath his body.

Something about this registered wrong in his mind. 

This isn’t right. He pondered the notion as he tried to recall what had happened to him, but everything was a blur – the haziness of his mind overwhelming.

Finally something clicked. Morgana. And then there was image of Morgana’s magic exploding and Merlin in pain.

All of a sudden, Arthur’s head felt like it were on fire, causing him to gasp in pain. He slowly reached back and found a fresh gash on the back of his head that was causing his whole head to pound. 

Where‘s Merlin?

Without thinking, his eyes shot open in hopes of finding the boy, but the new intake of light only managed to agitate the growing pain in his head. 

He had expected to see Merlin lying on the dungeon floor in front of him, but that wasn’t the case. What he hadn’t expected was to find himself lying in the middle of the forest completely and utterly alone.

He slowly became aware of the sound of voices in the distance, but he couldn’t be bothered with them at the moment. He needed to find Merlin. The memory of Morgana’s attack and the image of the servant’s broken body on the floor of the dungeon was enough to push everything else out of his mind. 

He began to panic when he realized that Merlin was nowhere in sight. Then a flash of red in the corner of his eye caught his attention. Not ten feet in front of him was a small bundle of red that was secured in the ground by a single arrow.

He rushed to pull himself up to get to it, but he immediately came crashing back to the earth – his legs unable to carry the weight of his body.

Trying to ignore the pain that was enveloping his head, he crawled the last few feet till he finally reached the spot in the middle of the small clearing. On top of the bundle, secured by the arrow, was a bit of parchment – a note.

With his hand shaking, he reached forward and grabbed the bit of paper and brought it up to read the note that was scrawled upon it.

 

Dearest Arthur, 

I hope you don’t mind, but I’ll be keeping your beloved Merlin for the time being.  
But do not fret; you will be seeing us soon.

Yours truly,  
Morgana

 

It felt as if his whole world was crashing down around him. She let him go, but at what price?

Merlin was gone.

He could hear the voices in the distance getting closer – calling his name. But he couldn’t be bothered. Merlin was gone.

The world around him was spinning. He slowly leaned forward and pulled the arrow out of the ground, throwing it aside.

Reaching a shaky hand forward, he grasped onto the bundle of red cloth – clutching onto it for dear life.

It was Merlin’s neckerchief. 

The pain in Arthur’s head had become agonizing, but all he could think about was the bit of cloth in his hand.

The forest surrounding him began to blur. He knew unconsciousness was coming, but he couldn’t bring himself to care. The pain in his head was too much to endure – he needed to escape. 

So he let the shadows swallow him once again – unable to stay conscious long enough to see the swirl of red cloaks rushing into the clearing as he descended into darkness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also, if any of you want to pester me on tumblr you can find me at thagirlwhocan over there!


	8. Chapter 8

It had been two weeks – two weeks since Arthur and Merlin went missing.

When the prince and his manservant failed to return to the castle that evening after their patrol, Sir Leon immediately assembled a small search party to go out and look for the two men. 

During the last few months leading up to their disappearance, it wasn’t uncommon for patrols to return later in the evening. With the lack of magical attacks across the kingdom, the patrols that ran through the forest, which were once tedious and fraught with danger, had become the most sought-after assignments among the knights.

With the kingdom no longer littered with bandits, sorcerers, and various magical creatures, being put on patrol duty through the forest surrounding Camelot was the closest thing the knights had to a day off. 

So no one was all that concerned when Arthur and Merlin failed to return to the castle on time – well, no one except for Sir Leon.

The feeling of uncertainty first appeared earlier that morning as he watch the prince and his servant ride out of the city gates. A feeling of apprehension so strong that he had to physically stop himself from saddling up his own horse and riding out after them, to either stop them or insist that he join them on their patrol.

But instead of going after them, he remained standing in the middle of the courtyard watching their retreating forms as they headed into the forest – a decision he would soon come to regret.

Leon spent the rest of the day on edge, counting down the minutes till the prince was scheduled to return, constantly having to remind himself throughout the day that he was just overreacting. But no matter how many times he repeated the mantra to himself, nothing could get rid of the pit in his stomach – the feeling in his gut that something had gone terribly wrong. A feeling that only seemed to increase with every passing hour.

So when the two men didn’t come riding through the castle gates at the end of their patrol, Leon immediately set out to assemble a small search party.

He knew that he was being completely unreasonable and that the two men were almost certainly just running late and that they were probably going to show up completely fine, but he couldn’t help himself.

When Leon first approached Gwaine, Percival, and Elyan to ask them to join him, he was worried that they would just tell him that he was being ridiculous and that he was making a big deal out of nothing, but thankfully they did no such thing.

Within minutes, the four knights were saddled up and riding out of the city gates in search of Arthur and Merlin. 

But they found no sign of the prince and his manservant. After hours of searching the woods immediately surrounding Camelot, they found neither hide nor hair of the two men. So when the sun finally sank beneath the horizon, the four knights decided to call it a night and headed back to Camelot in hopes that the two men may have somehow passed them during their search and were already back within the city walls.

But Arthur and Merlin never returned that night – or the next.

While the rest of Camelot, including the king himself, had been kept in the dark about the disappearance of the prince, the knights had been in full-blown panic mode. 

Leon had decided early on that it would be best for them to keep the king in the dark for as long as possible. 

Morgana’s betrayal had broken something deep within the king – some people even believed that she had actually managed to break his heart. Now all that was left was the shell of the man that had once been Uther Pendragon, King of Camelot. Since that day all those months ago, the king spent most of his time locked up in his bedchambers – never moving and never speaking a word.

No one wanted to tell the broken shell of a man that his only son, the future king of Camelot, had gone missing.

It had been two days since the disappearance, two days of nonstop searching through the woods surrounding Camelot. Those two days being the most stressful days of Sir Leon’s life. 

Of course, Leon blamed himself – he should have followed his instincts that morning and gone after them. But alas, he had let two men ride away.

With Arthur gone, as the prince’s right hand man, Leon was left to pick up Arthur’s knightly duties in his absence. So while the vast majority of the knights were out scorching the woods for the missing men, Leon was required to stay inside the city wall, just in case there was some news of the prince.

He felt trapped within the city walls. He understood why he had to stay behind, but it didn’t make him feel any better. All he could do was sit alone in the council chambers and wait – wait for the patrols to return only to tell him that there was still no sign of the prince and his servant. 

Day in and day out, Leon was forced to sit there and wait for the news that wasn’t going to come. By the end of the fourth consecutive day of this, Leon felt as if he were going to explode, his anxiety and aggravation were slowly consuming his mind.

That was how the knight found himself alone out on the practice field on the afternoon of the fourth day. 

It was Gwaine that finally found him later that evening. Being the leader of the last patrol for the day, he was required to check in with Leon to report his findings, but when he arrived in the council chambers, the head knight was no where to be found.

It didn’t take long for Gwaine to work out where the man had disappeared to. While the other knights remained oblivious to Leon’s distress, Gwaine could see the effect the entire situation was having on the man. 

So he wasn’t surprised to find the man alone on the practice field beating the tar out of one of the dummy soldiers with a practice sword. 

But as he approached the knight who was relentlessly hacking away at the lifeless form, he was taken aback by not only the tattered state of the dummy, but the knight himself. 

It didn’t take long for him to realize that Leon was no longer using one of the practice swords, but the sword from his own belt.

Gwaine didn’t have to look far to see the blade of the practice sword a few feet away from the man, and a little further out he could see hilt of the sword, which had apparently broken from the rest of the weapon during the knights struggle - the force of his blows were apparently enough to break the sword right at the handle.

When compared to the state of the broken sword, the condition of the knight wasn’t much better. It was clear that he had been out there for hours, taking out his frustrations on the unresponsive dummy. 

It needed to stop.

“Leon?” Gwaine finally spoke out. But the man either didn’t hear him, or was choosing to ignore Gwaine’s presence.

“Come on Leon, that’s enough mate.” He said, stepping forward to try and pull the knight back.

“NO IT’S NOT!” he screamed as soon as Gwaine touched his arm. Using his free hand, Leon shoved Gwaine away, causing the knight to stagger backwards.

When Gwaine looked down at his chest, there was a bloodied handprint from where the knight had shoved him. Hours of unrelenting abuse towards the dummy had taken its toll on the man’s hands, which were now covered in blisters and were bleeding - the hilt of the weapon stained red from his own blood. 

As soon as Leon shoved the man out of the way, the knight went back to slashing away at the dummy as if Gwaine weren’t even there.

He had to put a stop to it. After backing up a few steps, he readied himself as he waited for the opportune moment; if he didn’t time it just right there was a very good chance he would end up getting stabbed or slashed in the process of stopping the man, which wouldn’t have been a problem if he were still using the practice sword, but alas he wasn’t.

He took a deep breath and when Gwaine saw the moment he charged forward towards the unsuspecting knight. Thankfully he had timed it just right so that when he finally reached the man and side-tackled him to the ground, the sword was about as far away as it could be from striking the knight. 

In a matter of seconds, Gwaine had the distraught man disarmed and pinned to the ground. Leon tried to fight back, but the struggle was short lived as the adrenaline that had been keeping him going those last few hours was finally failing him.

“Are you done?” Gwaine finally asked, out of breath from keeping the man under control.

When Leon finally gave a small nod, Gwaine rolled off the man and sat down on the grass next to him, neither of them saying anything as they caught their breaths.

It was Leon who eventually broke the silence.

“We have to find them Gwaine.” He said when he finally pulled himself into a sitting position. 

“And we will find them - no matter what it takes.” Gwaine assured the man by slinging an arm around his back.

“But you know what we’re not going to do?” He announced as he pulled himself up from the ground and offered a hand out to Leon. “We’re not going to find them by lounging around out here on the practice field.”

Leon let out a heavy sigh.

“You’re right.” He said as he reached forward and grabbed a hold of Gwaine’s hand so the man could pull him to his feet. Leon groaned in pain from the pressure on his hand.

“Furthermore, we should probably have Gauis take a look at these hands of yours.” With a short laugh, the two men started heading back towards to city gates.

However, the two knights hadn’t made it more than a few steps when they noticed the distinct sound of hooves coming from the forest line at the other end of the clearing. 

They turned around just in time to see two horses emerge from the trees. The two beasts immediately started making their way straight for the two men.

“What in the hell-“ Gwaine began.

But as the two horses came closer, they realized that these weren’t any old wild horses – but they were fully saddled.

“No - it can’t be.” Leon muttered when he realized just whom the horses belonged to.

“Dear God,” Gwaine stammered as the horses finally reached them, “but these are-“

But he couldn’t finish his sentence – he didn’t want to say what they both knew to be true.

“It’s – it’s Arthur and Merlin’s horses.” Leon finished.

 

 

Later that night, Leon met with Gwaine, Elyan, and Percival, and they all agreed that they could no longer keep Uther in the dark regarding his son’s disappearance.

From the state of the two horses, it was obvious that they had traveled a great distance to return back to Camelot. After a closer examination, they realized that the two horses had been tied up around a tree somewhere, but had somehow managed to chew through their reins and escape.

With the return of the Arthur and Merlin’s horses, it became clear that the patrols that had been sent to search for the two men had been practically useless. Wherever the prince and his manservant were currently being held, it was nowhere near the borders of Camelot.

When Leon had finally explained the situation to Uther, he was surprised by the king’s reaction. To be honest, he hadn’t expected him to do much at all. He had fully expected the king to continue on in his unresponsive state.

But as soon as Leon finished explaining what had happened, the king muttered a quiet; “Leave me” under his breath. As the knight left, he couldn’t help but feel sorry for the man that had once been the most feared king in the land.

While Leon had been speaking to the king, Gwaine and Percival had gathered the rest of the knights at the round table so they could draw up a new strategy for locating and rescuing the prince. 

About thirty minutes into the meeting, the doors to the council room unexpectedly burst open, taking the men around the table by surprise.

They were even more shocked to see the form of Uther Pendragon making his way across the hall towards the round table. Gone was the broken and empty man that had been Uther Pendragon since the day of Morgana’s betrayal. 

He slowly circled his way around the table of stunned knights and settled himself down in Arthur’s previously vacant seat.

“So tell me,” he started, “what is your plan for rescuing my son?”

With those ten words, the king of Camelot had returned.

 

 

They had spent days organizing new patrols and strategies on how they would recover the prince once they learned of his location. So in groups, the knights of Camelot spread out across the entire kingdom, stopping in every village and tavern they came across, searching for any sign or whisper of the missing prince. But there was nothing. It was as if the prince and his manservant had vanished into thin air.

So with a lack of information on where the prince might be located, there was very little they could do but continue their search.

While the majority of the knights left Camelot to seek out Arthur, a few remained behind with Uther, including Sir Leon and Sir Gwaine.

Before they knew it, two weeks had gone by since Arthur and Merlin had disappeared. The king and the two knights were in the council room discussing what their next step would be when without warning, the doors to the chambers opened to reveal two guards and a young woman.

“Excuse me sire, we have a woman here who says that she may have some information for you.” The first guard explained.

The two knights looked towards the king. 

“Come forward,” Uther urged the girl. 

“Now tell us, what did you see.” He said, trying to remain composed.

She was reluctant to start. “Well your majesty, I’m – I’m not entire sure, but,” she paused.

“Go on.” Uther insisted with kindness in his voice.

“I believe it was magic.”

“What?” The two knights exclaimed in unison.

For months there hadn’t been a single sighting or whisper of magic in the entire kingdom, even after Arthur’s disappearance.

“Where was it?” Uther demanded, trying to keep himself calm, but the anger growing within him was clear in his voice.

“It was in the woods sire, not far outside of the city. It was an explosion of colors over the tree tops, like sparks from a fire raining down, sparks of red and gold they were.” 

All it took was a look between the three men to know what was to be done; red and gold – the colors of Camelot. After having the girl point out the direction she saw the explosion come from, Leon, Gwaine, and a handful of other knights rode out into the forest.

They didn’t make it far into the trees when one of the knights spotted a piece of red cloth tied off around one of the trees. Dismounting from their horses, the men began searching the area; it wasn’t far from the first tree that Leon discovered another tree with the same red cloth tied around it.

It was a path. 

“ARTHUR!” Leon shouted. He could feel it - Arthur was nearby.

Not waiting for the rest of the knights to follow, Leon took off at a sprint further into the woods, following the trail of red cloth that was left for them. 

There was no denying that they were meant to find this path – the explosion over the woods had been a signal – a signal telling them to come and find this path. It took one look at the familiar red cloth for him to realize that it wasn’t just any old red cloth, but they were strips torn from a cloak that was worn by every single knight of Camelot, including the prince himself.

As he darted through the woods, he continued to call out Arthur’s name in hopes that the prince might call back, but there was no reply.

As he followed along the path, he abruptly realized where it was leading them. The path was heading in the direction of a small clearing that was not far from the where they had started. 

Up ahead he could see the trees start to thin as he approached the clearing in mind. When he finally burst through the tree line, his eyes were drawn straight to the man on the ground at the very center. It was Arthur. 

They had found the prince.

He rushed forward to the man and skidded down to his knees, barely catching the man before he collapsed to the ground.

Leon was shocked into silence. 

Not only had they found Arthur, but he was alive. As much as it pained him to admit it, though nobody had said it out load, they had all been thinking the same thing – that if they did somehow find Arthur that he’d most likely already be dead.

But there he was. He was alive.

“Arthur, Arthur, can you hear me?” Leon pleaded with the prince as he shook him lightly.

But he was losing the man to unconsciousness. He was fading.

“Arthur I need you to stay awake right now. I need you to tell us what happened.” Leon question, trying to keep the man from falling into darkness.

It was about that time that the rest of the knights finally joined him in the clearing, most of them froze on the spot upon seeing the sight before them. The only one who continued forward was Gwaine.

When the knight finally reached the two men, he fell down to his knees on the other side of Arthur.

Carefully they lowered Arthur to the ground, laying him flat on his back in between them.

“Arthur, I need you to stay awake.” Leon repeated again as he gave his body a once over, looking for any obvious injuries, but there was none that he could see. 

Gwaine leaned over the prince and lifted his head slightly.

“Leon, I think he’s saying something.” 

The other knight’s attention snapped back to the man’s face to see Gwaine leaning in closer, putting his ear to the prince’s mouth.

“Well?” Leon asked. “What did he say?”

When Gwaine eventually sat up again and made eye contact with Leon, all the color had drained from his face.

“What is it Gwaine? What did he say?” The knight asked again, almost afraid of what the answer was going to be.

Gwaine was visibly shaken. The lump in his throat not wanting to repeat the word that Arthur had uttered and he hated himself for not realizing it earlier – how could he have forgotten.

After what felt like an eternity, Gwaine finally said the word.

“Merlin.” Gwaine finally choked out.

The realization hit Leon like a punch to the gut. Where was Merlin? Looking around the clearing, there was no sign of the manservant.

At almost the exact same moment, both knights caught a glimpse of red in the corner of their eyes.

Leon looked down to Arthur’s hand that was currently clutching onto another piece of red cloth. But it wasn’t the same as the one’s around the trees that lead them to the clearing, but it was just as familiar.

Lifting it out of Arthur’s hand, it took him a moment to place where he had seen it before, but he quickly realized what it was. It was Merlin’s neckerchief. 

But it wasn’t the red neckerchief that caught Gwaine’s eye; it was something else all together. Instead it was a thick layer of red that was covering both of his hands – it was from when he had been holding the back of prince’s head. It was Arthur’s blood.


	9. Chapter 9

Gwaine was no stranger to the sight of blood. Over the years he had seen the blood of countless men spilled right in front of his eyes. He couldn’t tell you how many tavern brawls he had seen end with a man bleeding out on the floor. One second the men would be throwing punches, and the next one of them would have a knife in his side or across his throat. Lucky for Gwaine, he had managed to avoid that fate. 

But the sight of Arthur’s blood currently covering his hands - the blood of the man he had sworn to protect with his life, it was making his stomach churn – the contents of his breakfast threatening to come up. 

As much as he wanted to, he couldn’t tear his eyes away from his hands – tainted scarlet and shaking. It was Leon’s frantic voice that finally brought him back to reality.

“Arthur? ARTHUR! Gwaine he’s gone unconscious, we need to get him back to Camelot!” 

Leon’s head shot back across the clearing to the four other knights in their company, the four men who were still frozen near the tree line.

“Galahad, Owen, and Tristan, you three need to go and bring the horses back here as quickly as possible. Balin, I need you to ride back to Camelot and prepare Gauis for our arrival, the prince needs immediate medical attention.” When he finished the order, the four knights continued to stand there in shock.

“NOW!” He shouted at them, causing the knights to immediately take off out of the clearing and back into the woods. Leon just shook his head; it was a wonder how they ever got anything done. When Leon finally turned his attention back to Gwaine he was surprised to see the man undressing himself.

“Gwaine, what in the world-“

“He’s bleeding,” the knight interjected, cutting Leon off mid sentence. “The back of his head, he’s loosing a lot of blood.” He explained as he tore the shirt off his back and began ripping it to shreds. Leon’s eyes went wide.

“I need you to lift his head so I can wrap the wound. It probably won’t stop the bleeding, but it’s the best we can do till we can get him to Gaius.”

Without a word, Leon shoved the forgotten neckerchief into his pocket and followed the instructions as Gwaine wrapped the remnants of what use to be his shirt around the prince’s head. When the wrapping was finally secured, it wasn’t long till the other knights came riding back into the clearing. Thankfully, one of the three horses they had brought back was Leon’s own horse.

“Galahad, Owen, Tristan! Come over and help lift Arthur onto the front of my horse.” Since Leon’s was the most skilled rider of the group, he had already decided that he would be the one to ride Arthur back to Camelot. 

Once he was settled in the saddle, he gave the men the signal to ease the prince across the body horse in front of him. As the men were easing the unconscious prince onto the beast, Gwaine noticed a bit of parchment fall from one of Arthur’s hands.

“Hold on a moment, what’s this?” Gwaine rushed forward and picked up the crumpled bit of paper off the ground. Carefully he flattened it out so he could make out the elegant script in the short note.

Dearest Arthur,

I hope you don’t mind, but I’ll be keeping your beloved Merlin for the time being. 

But do not fret; you will be seeing us soon.

Yours truly,  
Morgana

Gwaine’s stomach sank. It was Morgana all along. She was the one who had kidnapped the two men – and she still had Merlin.

When Gwaine looked up to bring the note to Leon’s attention, the knight was already barreling through the tree line at full speed on horseback. 

“Damn!” A few feet away, Galahad was getting ready to mount his own horse to follow after the head knight. 

“Oh no you don’t!” Jumping forward, Gwaine latched onto the man’s chainmail and yanked him backwards before the man could swing his leg over the saddle, causing the man to come crashing to the ground. In one swift movement, Gwaine launched himself onto the horse’s back and took off after Leon.

Even with Gwaine’s horse carrying half the weight of Leon’s, he didn’t manage to catch up with his fellow knight till they were nearly to Camelot. The city gates were in sight when Gwaine suddenly cut Leon off, causing his horse to come to a screeching halt.

“What in the hell do you think you’re doing? Get out of my way!” Leon demanded. 

“No Leon, we need to-“ Gwaine tried to explain, but Leon cut in off.

“No. You need to get out of my way right now. We need to get Arthur to Gaius.”

“Yes I know Leon, but-“

“BUT NOTHING GWAINE! If you don’t move this instant then I will make you.” He seethed as he unsheathed his sword.

“LEON!” Gwaine finally shouted at the man. “We can not go riding through the streets of Camelot with Arthur’s body draped over your horse in such a manner.” Leon took his eyes off Gwaine to look down at the prince’s limp body lying in front of him. 

“What would people think Leon? There’s a reason we’ve been keeping Arthur’s disappearance a secret these last two weeks. What would happen if the people of Camelot actually thought he were dead?”

It took a second, but he realized that Gwaine was right. Most of the lands outside of Camelot were still unaware of Uther’s return to the throne. For months the news of the king’s mental deterioration spread like wildfire throughout the lands. If their enemies ever caught wind of Arthur’s current condition, or that he might even be dead, then Camelot would appear weak and ripe for the taking. There was no doubt in Leon’s mind that in a matter of weeks there would be an enemy army at their doorstep.

“Now put your sword away and take off your cloak. We need to cover his body.” 

Within minutes they had the prince’s body covered and they were riding into the main square at the heart of the citadel. In the far corner they spotted the old physician waiting for them in the shadows.

Once the reached the man Gwaine and Leon jumped down and started unfastening Arthur from the saddle.

As soon as the physician was next to them, Gwaine started rambling. “Gaius the only injury I could find was a head wound, I did all I could, but I’m not-“

“Gwaine, why don’t we wait until we are inside?” He suggested. “There are too many prying eyes and ears out here.” Gwaine gave a short nod as Leon slid Arthur’s body over his shoulder. 

The majority of the people that filled the square that afternoon remained completely oblivious to the exchange that had occurred between the two knights and older physician. Just as oblivious as they had been to the fact that their prince had been missing for the last two weeks. 

Besides Uther, Gaius, and the knights of Camelot, there was only one other person who was aware Arthur and Merlin’s disappearance. Guinevere. 

For the months following Morgana’s betrayal and disappearance, Gwen had been put in charge of looking after the king. Besides Arthur, she was the only person who could get the king to willing eat his meals and take his medicine. 

It had all happened quite by accident. About a week after Arthur had recaptured Camelot, he had asked her if she could go through and clean up Morgana’s old chambers. As much as she dreaded the thought of doing it, Gwen could understand why it needed to be done. A few days after they had returned to Camelot, she had decided to pop her head in just to take a look. She was surprised to see the room all but destroyed. With a sigh, she closed the door and tried to put the thought of it into the back of her mind.

When Arthur first asked her to be in charge of cleaning the room, she instantly felt the urge to say no - that she couldn’t possibly be the one to do it. But after thinking it over, she realized that she was the only person who could.

So that next morning she gathered everything she would need for the day and set off down the familiar corridor. When she walked through the chamber doors she was immediately hit with the familiar scent of Morgana as waves of nostalgia washed over her.

There was no denying that her last year as Morgana’s handmaid had been difficult and strained, but prior to her kidnapping by Morgause, she had loved being Morgana’s handmaid. The two women spent years in each other’s company, talking about Arthur and the knights, gossiping about the other servants, and becoming the best of friends. Looking back, Gwen’s good memories with Morgana vastly outnumbered the bad ones, and that’s how she wanted to remember the woman she had come to consider a friend. She wanted to remember her as the sweet and caring lady she had spent countless afternoons laughing with – not as the vengeful sorceress she had become. 

After spending a few minutes just going through old memories, Gwen realized that she should probably start cleaning up the destroyed room. Just as she was getting started, she heard a strange noise coming from the far side of the bed. Thinking it was a rat or some other small creature that had crept into the abandoned room, Gwen slowly made her way across to the bed and peeked around the corner. Where she had expected to find a mouse, instead she found the king on the floor with his legs out and leaning against the bed.

“I’m so sorry sire,” she stammered as she jumped back around the corner out of his sight, “I didn’t know anybody was in here.” She apologized again, but the king never replied or even acknowledged the fact that he had seen her. Taking a deep breath, she slowly turned back around the corner.

“Sire, are you okay?” But there was no reply. She didn’t know what to do. 

“Do you need me to go get Gaius?” She asked, “I’ll – I’ll just go get Gaius.” But as she turned around to fetch the physician, she heard the man mutter something behind her. Every fiber of her wanted to get out of that room and out of the king’s presence as soon as possible, but she stopped herself. Instead she walked back to the man and kneeled down next to him.

“I’m sorry sire, but I didn’t quite hear what you said.” 

After a few more seconds of silence, he finally repeated himself.

“Please,” his voice barely above a whisper, “please don’t leave me here.”

Gwen was stunned. She couldn’t believe that she had just heard those words come out of Uther Pendragon’s mouth. Even after everything that had happened in that last month, Gwen never felt any sort of pity for Uther. But as she looked at the broken man on the floor in front of her, her heart broke for him. This was not the same man that had once been the great ruler of Camelot. 

Gwen sighed. “How about we get you back to your chambers sire?” When she offered up the suggestion, she hadn’t expected him to reply, but after a few seconds the king started making a move to get up. As he was slowly pulling himself to his feet, his legs suddenly started shaking as if they were about to go out on him. Instinctively Gwen jumped forward with a helping arm to keep him steady. By some miracle, she managed to get the king back to his chambers without passing a single person in the corridors.

Over the next few days, Arthur had attempted to assign various servants to the job of attending to his father, but each night every one of them returned saying the same thing; the king simply wouldn’t acknowledge their presence. After venting to Gwen about the matter, Arthur was more than a bit stunned when she offered to do the job herself. Unaware of what occurred between his father and young woman, he was even more surprised to find that she could actually get through to the man. 

Every evening after Arthur finished with his duties for the day, he would make his way to Uther’s chambers and he would sit there for hours talking to his father. Sometimes he would talk about Camelot or about the new recruits he was training to become knights, and sometimes they would just sit there in silence. But no matter what Arthur said to the man, the king never spoke a word. He would just sit there in silence with his eyes glossed over, as if he were lost in some memory or day dream, and no one could pull him out of it.

Thus every evening when Arthur showed up, Gwen would take her leave for the night. So when Arthur didn’t appear that night after his patrol, Gwen was more than a bit worried.

The next day Gwaine tried to tell her that Arthur and Merlin had gone on an extended hunting trip, but as much as she wanted to believe the man’s story, something in his voice told her that it was a lie. Days passed and while everyone else in Camelot acted as if nothing were wrong, Gwen could see a difference in the knights, more specifically, she could she the difference in Leon. There was something that they weren’t telling her.

When Gwen went to attend to the king on the fifth day since Arthur’s departure, she was surprised to find that the king wasn’t in his chambers. Panic instantly set in. Gwen immediately made for the council hall where she knew the knights would be meeting at the round table. When she burst into the hall she headed straight for Leon, not paying any attention to the other occupants in the room.

“Leon the king isn’t in his chambers.” She explained in hushed tones. From the other side of the knight she heard a short cough. Looking around she was shocked to see none other than Uther Pendragon in the seat that Arthur usually occupied.

“Sire.” She gasped. For the first time since Morgana’s betrayal all those months ago, Uther Pendragon looked like his old self – like the king of Camelot.

“Guinevere.” He replied, giving her a small nod. “Sir Leon, why don’t you escort the lady outside and explain the situation to her.” Leon nodded and led a stunned Gwen back out of the chambers. Once the doors were closed behind them, Leon proceeded to tell her about Arthur and Merlin’s disappearance, all leading up to arrival of their horses the night before.

So when she saw the two knights come riding into the square that afternoon, she instantly knew that something had happened. The first thing she noticed was that Gwaine was completely naked from the waist up. She got a small chuckle out of it, but the laugh caught in her throat when she noticed that Leon’s cloak was covering up something in front of him, covering the distinct form of a body draped over the front of the knight’s horse

She watched on breathlessly from across the courtyard as Gaius met with the two men as they carefully lowered the lifeless body down and carried it off to the physician’s chambers. After a few seconds, Gwen dropped her basket of forgotten produce, and took off at a run after the men.

Gwen knew that the body had to be one of two people; it was either Arthur or Merlin – the man she loved or the man she considered one of her best friends. Her first thought when seeing the body from a distance was that whoever it was, they were dead. But Gwen’s mind screamed at her, refusing to let her believe that Arthur or Merlin might be dead. They simply couldn’t be. 

\- 

After a short walk through the corridors, the door to the physician’s chambers finally closed behind the men. “Put him over on that cot quickly and tell me what happened.”

As Leon carefully lowered the prince’s limp form onto the cot, he went into a short explanation of how they found Arthur’s body in the middle of a clearing. Throughout the explanation, he was careful to leave out any mention of Merlin, wanting to put off that part of the story for as long as possible.

“You said that he was conscious when you found him, yes? Did he say anything?” Gauis asked as he began to examine the wound on the back of his head.

Gwaine and Leon froze, looking to each other to see whom what they were going to say. Gaius looked up at the two men when neither replied. The second he saw the troubled looks on their faces, he knew why they had remained silent.

Leon sighed. “He only said one thing,” he explained, running a shaky hand through his hair. “All he said was Merlin’s name.”

Upon hearing Leon’s words, all the color drained out of the older man’s face. After a few seconds, Gauis shook his head, swallowed the lump in his throat, and focused his attention back on the injured prince. “Is that all?” The physician asked, his voice shaking. 

Leon continued. “Well no, when we found him, when we found Arthur, he was clutching this in his hand.” Slowly, Leon pulled the red bit of cloth out of his pocket and held it out to the physician. But Gaius didn’t make a move to take the neckerchief off him. When he finally tore his eyes away from the cloth and went back to Arthur, Leon pulled his arm back to his chest and just held the neckerchief in his hands.

Gaius continued, trying his best to keep himself emotionally detached from the situation, but he simply couldn’t – Merlin was still missing. 

“So we have no idea how Arthur obtained his injury, no idea of who kidnapped him, or how he managed to escape?” 

“I’m sorry Gaius, no.” Leon admitted, the sound of defeat evident in his voice.

“Well, that’s not entirely true.” Gwaine muttered. Gaius and Leon’s eyes darted to look at the knight to see him looking at a piece of parchment that he was fumbling with in his hands. “Arthur, he uh – this feel out of his hands when the knights were loading him onto your horse Leon. It’s uh – it’s a note.” The room remained silent as Leon and Gaius waited for the knight to continue.

“It’s Morgana.” Gwaine stuttered. When the name escaped Gwaine’s lips, Gaius let out an audible gasp. “She let Arthur go.”

Leon looked baffled at the realization. “But that doesn’t make any sense. Why would she let Arthur go? And what about –“

“Merlin?” Gwaine continued, finishing Leon’s sentence for him. 

“No.” Gaius faltered, his voice almost pleading from across the room. 

“She still has him.”


	10. Chapter 10

“She still has him.” The four words echoed through the chambers. Morgana still had Merlin. The new information was evidently too much for the old physician to handle as he started to sway from side to side.

“Gaius?” Leon quickly jumped forward to steady the man who looked as if he were about to pass out. The knight carefully lowered the man into a nearby chair. 

Leon’s heart went out to Gaius. It was obvious to anyone who knew the two of them, that over the years Merlin had become so much more to Gaius than just being his ward. Merlin was the closest thing Gaius had to a son, and Morgana was currently holding him captive. Leon couldn’t imagine what the older man was going through at that moment.

“But none of this makes any sense. How in the world did Arthur escape?” Leon pointed out. 

“Well that’s the thing.” Gwaine replied. “He didn’t.”

“What do you mean he didn’t? He’s here isn’t he?” Leon said, motioning to Arthur.

“Yes he’s here, but that’s only because she let him go.”

“She let him go? But that makes even less sense! What possible reason would she have for just letting Arthur go and keeping Merlin?”

But there was a reason. Gaius could only think of one explanation as to why Morgana would keep Merlin and let Arthur go. She knew about Merlin’s magic.  
But if she knew about Merlin’s magic, what else did she know? Did she know that Merlin was the Emrys of legends? And if Morgana knew Merlin’s secret, did that mean that Arthur knew as well? Gaius couldn’t help but eye the prince wearily at the thought. 

But something about the whole situation still didn’t sit right with Gaius. Even if she knew that Merlin was a sorcerer, why would she let Arthur go? If she truly had Merlin and Arthur in her grasp, why not just kill them both on the spot? Then it hit him. 

Morgana had a plan. 

Morgana didn’t just let Arthur go. She went out of her way to bring Arthur back to Camelot – she practically dropped him off at their doorstep. She was confident. Gaius had no idea what she could possibly be planning, but it was her confidence in it that scared him the most.

While Gaius had been lost in his thoughts, Gwaine and Leon continued to question Morgana’s motives, but all three of them were interrupted when the door burst open and Guinevere rushed into the room completely out of breath.

“Who is it?” She demanded, her eyes searching the room frantically until they landed on Arthur’s lifeless body. 

She made it halfway across the room before Leon swiftly intercepted her.

“Is he okay? Please tell me he’s going to be okay.” The hysteric woman pleaded with tears in her eyes as she tried to force her way out of Leon’s hold.

“He’s okay Gwen, he’s okay – well maybe he’s not completely okay. Gwen?” He grabbed a hold of the woman’s shoulders and looked her straight in the eyes, “He will be okay.” When she looked into his eyes and saw that he was telling the truth she completely broke down. Falling into the knight’s chest she finally let the tears fall that she had been holding back for the last two weeks. 

Leon and Gwen had been friends for as long as she could remember. While they were growing up, her mother had been a servant in Leon’s household. Since they were close to the same age, Leon being a few years older, they spent a lot of time together in the years leading up to her mother’s death. She was twelve years old when it happened.

After she passed away, their father completely shut down, shutting both Gwen and Elyan out. For months after her mother’s death, Gwen was left alone to take care of Elyan. Without Leon’s friendship during those months, Gwen wasn’t sure how she would have ever made it through. They had been close before that, but during that time, Leon had become something like an older brother to her. 

In front of Elyan and her father she always put on a brave face, but every once in awhile Leon would find the young Gwen crying in the far corner of the stables. He knew there was nothing he could say to make her feel better, so all he would do was sit down beside her and offer her a shoulder to cry on. 

And Leon was still her shoulder to cry on all these years later, but this time they were tears of joy and relief. Arthur was home.

It took a few minutes, but Gwen eventually managed to pull herself together.

“Can I see him?” She asked as she wiped her tear stained face. With a nod, Leon guided her to a chair on the other side of Arthur.

Leaning forward she took a hold of Arthur left hand, needing to feel his skin against hers. “Where did you find him?” She asked as she reached out with her other hand to brush his hair out of his eyes. At first glance he appeared to be all right, but his face was deathly pale and his skin was clammy to the touch.

“He was in a clearing in the woods not far outside the city. Besides the gash on the back of his head there doesn’t appear to be anything else wrong with him.” Leon explained, giving her the short version of the story.

“Gaius?” Gwen prompted, noticing that the older man appeared to be lost in thought.

Breaking out of his reverie, his eyes met Gwen’s. “Oh um, yes. Besides the significant blood loss from the head wound, everything else seems to be in order. For now all we can do is continue to treat the wound and hope that he wakes up again soon.”

“Wait, was he awake when you found him?” Gwen asked, looking towards the two knights. “Did he say anything?” The two men suddenly became visibly uncomfortable at her question. But before either of them could answer, a thought struck Gwen. She let out a gasp and brought her hand up to her mouth. In her excitement over Arthur’s return she had completely forgotten about Merlin. For years she had considered Merlin to be one her best friends, and even if it had only been for a few minutes, she had completely forgotten that Merlin had been missing too.

“Where’s Merlin?” When neither of the knights answered, Gwen let out a choked sob. With a heavy sigh, Leon proceeded to tell Gwen the rest of the story, about the note, the neckerchief, and Morgana’s involvement. 

When Leon finally finished nobody said a word. They were all torn between being grateful for Arthur’s return and being worried for Merlin, who was still in Morgana’s grasp.

It was Gaius who finally broke the silence. “For now all we can do is wait. Hopefully Arthur will be able to tell us exactly what happened when he wakes up.”

“How long do you think that will be Gaius?” Gwen asked.

“I’m not entirely sure. It could be hours or days. With head injuries it can be difficult to predict.” 

Not long after that the king came bursting through the doors demanding to see his son. Up to that point, none of them had thought to inform Uther that Arthur had been recovered, but apparently that was the first thing the other knights did when they finally returned to Camelot. 

For the next two days Gwen and Gaius never left Arthur’s side, even after they relocated him back up to his chambers. Besides them, either Gwaine or Leon were always in the room with them. Also there were the two knights that were stationed outside his door at all times.

It was on the evening of the second day when Arthur finally woke up. Gwen, Gaius, and Leon had been discussing the events of the past few days when they heard it.

“Merlin?” 

The room fell silent as the three of them looked towards Arthur. After two days of nothing, he was finally waking up. Within seconds Gaius, Gwen, and Leon were surrounding the prince.

“Arthur, how are you feeling?” Gaius asked as he started checking the prince’s vitals.

“Where’s Merlin?” He grumbled as he attempted to open his eyes. As soon as he opened them he immediately snapped them shut again and groaned.

“What is it Arthur?” Gwen prompted seeing that he was obviously in pain. 

“The light; ugh my head feels like it’s on fire.” Without another word, Leon went to each window in the room and shut the curtains. Even with his eyes still closed tight, Arthur visibly relaxed once all the curtains were shut. They couldn’t stop all the light from coming in, but apparently it was enough for Arthur as he slowly started opening his eyes again.

“My head is killing me.” Arthur groaned as he tried to sit up, Gwen instantly jumped forward to help him to lean against the headboard.

“Well that probably has something to do with the considerable gash you have on the back of your head.” Gaius pointed out.

Arthur wanted to argue that it wasn’t, that there were two very distinct pains in his head. One was the stabbing sensation coming from the back of his head, the one that he assumed was coming from the wound that Gaius spoke of; then there was the other pain – a fire at the very center of his head. As much as he wanted to explain it to Gaius, there were other more important things that he needed to address first. 

“Where’s Merlin?” He looked to the three uncomfortable faces in the room for an answer.

“When we found you sire, you were holding onto this.” Reaching out, he handed the folded bit of parchment to Arthur. After reading it through multiple times and recalling the first time he read it when he found it in the clearing, Arthur let out a small “Oh.”

“You were also holding on to this.” Leon reached out again, but this time he was handing over a familiar bit of red cloth. With a shaky hand, Arthur reached forward and took the neckerchief from him. Bringing it to his lap and holding it securely in both hands, Arthur examined the bit of cloth silently.

“Arthur.” Gwen moved forward and put a comforting hand on his forearm “What happened?”

As Arthur tried to recall what happened to them, the fire in his head suddenly flared up causing him to wince.

“I’m not entirely sure.” He admitted as he brought a hand up to massage his temple.

“Well what do you remember?” Gaius prompted.

“Well, I remember going out on patrol with Merlin and then I recall Morgana attacking us as we started heading back. The next thing I remember was waking up in a dungeon, Merlin and I were both shackled to the wall.” But suddenly everything started to get fuzzy. Arthur closed his eyes and tried to concentrate. “She – she was going to kill us. She told us that she was planning to torture and kill us both.” Gwen gasped. 

“But after that everything turns fuzzy. I can’t,” Arthur struggled to explain, “I can’t remember.” He confessed. 

Arthur continued to struggle to pull the memories out of his head, but as he pushed to remember, the fire in his head continued to grow stronger; the fire like a warning, telling him to stop prodding at the memory, telling him that nothing good would come from remembering what happened. But he kept pushing.

“She was so angry – angry at Merlin, but I don’t know why.” Arthur explained shaking his head in frustration. That’s when he reached a clear patch of memory.

“She was losing control.” He explained, opening his eyes to see three sets of eyes completely focused in on him, captivated by the story. “She was losing control of her magic. I could feel it the room, her magic, she was going to burst.”

While Gwen and Leon both looked frightened and confused, Gauis only nodded to Arthur to continue, completely comprehending what it was he was talking about.

“But then Merlin,” Arthur faltered, remembering the look on the servant’s face as he muttered the short apology - a goodbye. Arthur sighed, “Merlin attacked her, he head butted her in the face.”

“What?” Gwen and Leon both exclaimed simultaneously, but Arthur’s eyes were focused on Gaius. If it were even possible, the physician looked even more distraught. He slowly leaned forward with his elbows on his knees, and put his clasped hands up to his mouth. 

Arthur couldn’t explain it, but he instantly realized that Gaius knew why Merlin did what he did. What shocked Arthur was that Gaius didn’t appeared to be surprised by the idea that Merlin would do something so incredibly stupid. 

“Why on earth would he do something like that?” Leon questioned, practically pacing back and forth at the foot of Arthur’s bed.

“Gaius?” Arthur prompted, wanting Gaius to be the one to explain, just to be sure that they were both thinking the same thing.

Gwen and Leon both looked to Gaius. Lifting his head, Gaius sighed. “He was doing it to save Arthur’s life.” Gwen and Leon continued to look confused. Arthur on the other hand looked completely devastated, Gaius realizing that he just confirmed what the prince already knew to be true. 

“Merlin realized that if Morgana truly lost control of her magic to the point of explosion, that it would kill them both. So Merlin did the only thing he could do, he had to make her angry enough so that she would focus it all on him.” Gaius voice broke.

“And she exploded, expelling every bit of her magic straight into Merlin. It was the most -,” Arthur stumbled over his words as he tried to find the right word to describe what he saw. “It was the most horrific thing I’ve ever seen. And it wasn’t just Merlin, they were both in so much pain.” Arthur explained as he ran his hands over his face.

“So Merlin, is he –“ Leon muttered.

“- dead?” Arthur finished the sentence. He lifted his face out of his hands to meet Leon’s eyes, his face full of determination. 

“No. He’s still alive.”

 

-

 

Everything was dark. Darkness and pain. They consumed every second, minute, hour, and day. He couldn’t remember the last time he slept or ate.

The pain wouldn’t let him sleep and she never fed him.

In the beginning he would pass out, but it never lasted. Eventually he would wake up and it would start again.

This was different; different than it had been the first time she reached through into his mind. She wasn’t just looking for something inside his head, she was doing something else, but he didn’t know what it was. The pain clouded his mind, not allowing him to think clearly, and she was in there as well – inside his mind. His wall was long gone. Nothing was hidden from her anymore.

Her hands found a home around his skull, his head feeling naked during those brief moments when they were removed. They were always there. The pain was always there. Day in and day out.

He wasn’t sure how long he had been there. It could have been days or years. But one day it appeared. At first he didn’t pay it much attention, it was so tiny, almost unnoticeable. The small black spot in his vision. So small and insignificant. 

Unfortunately, it didn’t stay that way.


	11. Chapter 11

“No. He’s still alive.” Arthur declared, the conviction unwavering in his voice.

“Are you certain Arthur? How could Merlin possibly survive a magical attack of that magnitude?” Leon replied, not sounding completely convinced himself.

“To be honest I’m not entirely sure how he managed it.” Arthur responded, running his fingers through his hair. 

“I honestly though he was dead. When the final burst of energy exploded from Morgana, the force of it threw Merlin’s body against the wall, and with the injuries he had already sustained I didn’t think – there was no way –“ he stumbled on his words, unable to find the right one to explain to them just how terrible it was or how bad Merlin’s injuries had been. Taking a deep breath, the prince steadied himself.

“But he was alive. He was unconscious, but even from where I was chained to the wall I could see the shallow rise and fall of his chest. He was breathing, and once Morgana picked herself up off the ground she could see it too.” 

As Arthur continued to push through his memories, but they once again started to turn hazy as a ripple of fire shot through his head. Pinching the bridge of his nose, Arthur waited for the pain to pass.

“What happened to Morgana after the…explosion?” Gwen asked, curious about the effect the burst of energy had on the woman she had once considered a friend. 

“Well when the last of the energy snapped out of her she collapsed to the floor and got sick. It took her a couple of minutes, but eventually she was able to gather herself.” Arthur explained, trying to push the memory of Morgana’s screams out of his head.

“I’m amazed that she was even able to remain conscious after it was over. Expelling such a considerable amount of uncontrolled magical energy from her body should have been enough to knock her out for at least an hour.” Gaius explained. 

“Well maybe she didn’t release as much energy as Arthur originally thought she did.” Gwen added in, hoping that it would explain how Merlin was able to survive.

“The force of it was enough to not only lift Merlin’s body into the air and hold it there, but to then throw his already broken body against the wall with such a force that the wall itself cracked on impact.” Arthur snapped, all of the sudden out of breath. 

Both Gwen and Leon were taken aback by the sudden outburst. With a sigh Arthur dropped his head into his hands again and started massaging his temple, trying to ease the fire in his head that only seemed to be getting worse again.

Quietly Gwen excused herself, saying that she had just remembered something that needed to be done. Once the three men were alone, Gaius continued.

“If what you say is true Arthur, then we have a serious problem.” Arthur glanced up at the aging physician, wondering how things could possibly get any worse.

“If Morgana truly released that amount of energy and was still able to remain conscious when it ended, then she is considerably more powerful than any of us could have ever imagined.” Gaius explained, the worry clear in his voice. “Making her more dangerous than any threat that Camelot has ever faced.”

“But if she’s as powerful as you say she is Gaius, then why didn’t she just kill Arthur when she had the chance?” Leon interjected.

Gaius and Arthur made eye contact once again, instantly realizing that they both knew the answer to Leon’s question.

“She has a plan.” Arthur gulped, still looking at Gaius as the older man gave him a sad smile.

“Morgana letting me go free was her first hint and the note she left for me in the clearing was the second.” Arthur said as he turned back to Leon.

“But do not fret; you will be seeing us soon.” Gaius whispered, repeating the words from the note that had been burned into his head after reading and rereading it over and over again in the days since Arthur’s return. 

“She….she has a plan.” Leon stammered. “Well that’s not good.”

Arthur let out a small chuckle. “No Leon it’s not. And if she is as powerful as Gaius says she is, then we are all in trouble. 

“And what makes it even worse -” Arthur began. “I fear that Merlin lies at center of this new plan of hers. I don’t know what it was, but something happened that day to change Morgana’s mind.” 

While Arthur and Leon both looked worried about what Morgana could possibly have planned, Gaius looked as if he were about to be sick, because while Leon and Arthur remained oblivious, he knew what it was that changed Morgana’s mind; she knew that Merlin had magic. 

While Gaius should have been more concerned about the obvious effect the wound on the back Arthur’s head was having to the prince’s memories, he couldn’t help but be thankful that he couldn’t remember what happened.

Merlin clearly used his magic in front of both Morgana and Arthur in an attempt to escape and rescue Arthur, but it evidently failed. It was the only thing that could possibly explain Morgana finding out about Merlin, nothing else made sense. But that meant that somewhere deep inside Arthur’s head, hidden deep in his forgotten memories, was the truth that Merlin was a sorcerer.

Before anything else could be said there was a knock at the door. 

“Leon, could you –“ Arthur sighed.

With a nod Leon went to see who was at the door.

“Who is it Leon?” Arthur asked rubbing his eyes as the ache in his head finally started to ebb. 

But it wasn’t Leon who replied to Arthur’s question; instead it was another familiar voice.

“Hello Arthur.” 

Arthur’s head instantly snapped up upon hearing his father’s voice. It may have been months since he had last heard it, but there was no doubt that it was his.

If Arthur was going to be honest, he had half expected to see Uther standing there in his bedclothes looking just as broken and forlorn as he had been when Arthur last saw him. But the man standing in front of him looked just like Arthur could remember him looking his entire life. He once again looked like the king of Camelot – like his father.

“Father?” He asked, looking both relieved and shocked at his father’s sudden appearance. The last time he saw his father, he had been a mere shell of the man he had once been; unresponsive and confined to his room day in and day out. 

“Hello son.” Uther beamed, the smile growing on his face taking Arthur by surprise. 

That’s when Arthur first noticed it, the change in Uther Pendragon. When his father had just been standing in the middle of the room he didn’t notice it at first. But as the smile grew on his face, the change in the king became blatantly obvious. While he still held himself in the same kingly manner, something inside the man had shifted during Arthur’s absence. 

Arthur could only watch on in silence as his father made his way to the far side of the room, past Gaius, and seated himself on the edge of the bed right next to his son. 

“My son.” Uther reached forward, resting both of his hands on Arthur’s shoulders. “You have no idea how happy I am to see you.” The king admitted as he reached his right hand up and rested it against his son’s neck. The small touch sent a familiar fiery ache through Arthur’s head, but he quickly pushed it in away, determined to ignore it for the time being.

His father’s affectionate actions were already unexpected, but his father’s next move completely took him by surprise. In one swift movement, Uther Pendragon leaned forward and enveloped Arthur in his arms. 

It wasn’t like the father and son had never hugged before, but it had been when Arthur was much younger, and the feeling put into the current embrace was completely different from the once he had received when he was a boy.

“I though I was never going to see you again.” Uther said, still holding onto his son tightly as tears ran down his face.

It was Uther’s words that finally snapped Arthur out of his thoughts. He had been too shocked by his father’s sudden show of affection to respond, but when he finally came back to his senses, Arthur reached around his father’s body and held on just as tightly. It was like every bit of worry, frustration, sadness, and anger towards his father since Morgana’s betrayal completely washed over him in that moment, but the feeling of happiness and joy rose up and beat out all the rest as a few warm tears escaped his eyes and ran down his face.

He wasn’t sure how long they had remained there in the embrace, but when they finally pulled away, they realized that Leon and Gaius had left at some point and they alone. They spent the next few hours talking about Arthur’s condition and what had been happening around Camelot since his disappearance all those weeks ago

.  
.  
.  
.

It had been three days since Arthur first woke up and to be honest, he felt like he was about to explode.

Besides the wound on the back of his head that needed to be rebadged twice a day, Arthur was more or less as good as new. The majority of the time Arthur was surrounded by some combination of his father, Gwen, Gaius, Leon, and Gwaine, but during those few times he was left alone, all he could do was think. Think about what he should have done and what he needed to do now that he was better.

So it was on the morning of the forth day that Arthur decided to bring it up. He figured that the bigger the audience that was present the better chance he would have at being taken seriously. So he decided to take his chances when Uther, Gwaine, and Gaius were all in his room that morning.

“Gwaine, I want you and Leon to take me back to the clearing where you guys found me.” Arthur announced, trying to be as nonchalant and serious as possible.

The three men who had previously been in conversation with each other all turned to look at the prince like he had all of the sudden sprouted a second head.

“You can’t be serious Arthur.” The king replied, but upon seeing the look on his son’s face, Uther realized that he was being completely serious.

“That’s completely out of the question Arthur, you’re still recovering and you need your rest. Besides, with Morgana still on the lose it’s not safe for you to leave the citadel.” Uther insisted.

Arthur had been planning on that being his answer so he turned to the old physician.

“Gaius, in your profession opinion as my physician, do you think I have recovered enough to be able to go for a short ride in the company of Sir Gwaine and Sir Leon?”

“I well – “ Gaius paused, looking back and forth between the father and son, unsure of what he should say. The last place he wanted to be in that moment was stuck in the middle of one of their arguments.

“Be honest Gaius, is Arthur really well enough for something like this?” Uther asked, urging the physician to continue.

“Well besides the gash on the back of his head, which appears to be healing quite nicely, Arthur seems fairly healthy. I think that as long as he’s in the company of Gwaine and Leon and doesn’t push himself too hard, I think a short trip out of the city might actually be good for him Sire.” When Gaius finally finished, Arthur was practically beaming. 

“But there’s still the issue of Morgana.” Uther pointed out.

“Father, we both know that if Morgana wanted me dead that I would be - me being here right now is proof of that.” When Arthur saw Uther’s face fall, he knew he had won that argument.

“But why?” That was the one question Arthur hadn’t been expecting. Gaius and Gwaine shifted uncomfortably. It was the topic that Arthur and Uther had avoided taking about for three days.

“You know why.” Arthur responded with a sigh and continued. “By some miracle it hasn’t rained since my return and I need to see it there’s any –“ But he stopped. 

He had gone over the events of that day with Gwaine and Leon multiple times, and each time they made it clear that there were no signs of Morgana. It wasn’t like he didn’t trust them, but he just needed to see it for himself. And with each passing day their chances of finding anything were dwindling. 

“It’s just something I need to do father.” 

It was moments like these that made Arthur thankful for the change in his father since his disappearance. If he had come to his father with such a request a year ago, Uther would have immediately shut him down and forbid him from going, which would have naturally ended with Arthur going anyways.

But this new Uther was seriously considering whether or not he would let Arthur go riding off into the woods only a week after being returned to Camelot after being kidnapped and held hostage by Morgana. And it wasn’t like his son was just going for a ride into the woods because he was getting antsy and restless; they all knew why he wanted to go back to the clearing. 

“Okay.” Arthur heard Uther say barely above a whisper.

“Thank you father.” Arthur said, relief washing over him.

“But you have two hours. Two hours and I want you back here.”

Arthur quickly agreed to the to the terms and told Gwaine to go inform Leon to ready the horses and that he would meet them at the stables in twenty minutes. 

In a matter of minutes Arthur found himself alone again. Gwaine had gone off to find Leon and Uther and Gaius made their exit shortly after.

That was how Arthur found himself standing in the middle of his room completely alone.

For the first time since his return to Camelot, Arthur felt the full force of Merlin’s absence. 

After a few minutes of struggling to dress himself, Arthur was finally ready to head down to the stables, but before he left, a flash of red caught his eye. Turning around Arthur eyed the familiar red neckerchief that was on his bedside table. For three days it had never left his side.

Before he realized what he was doing, Arthur found himself walking across the room towards the table. Picking up the neckerchief, that was still tied off from the last time it was around its owner’s neck, Arthur carefully put his right hand through the loop, twisted it off, and put his hand in through the second hole till the cloth was double wrapped securely around his wrist. 

Without another though, Arthur grabbed his sword off the table and started making his way down the familiar path to the stables.

When he got there, both Leon and Gwaine instantly recognized the unmistakable red cloth around the prince’s wrist, but neither of them said anything about it. 

In an odd way the presence of the neckerchief made all three men feel better, it was like a little piece of Merlin was there with them.

The entire way to the clearing they rode in silence, which was only another reminder of Merlin’s absence. As the rode through the tress, the three men half expected their favorite manservant and friend to jump in with some comment just to break the quiet that had settled around them, but alas, they continued to ride in complete silence. 

After about twenty minutes Leon finally announced that the clearing was just ahead. When they finally reached the tree line, they dismounted their horses and entered the clearing on foot. 

Before entering the clearing, Arthur couldn’t exactly remember his knights finding him that afternoon, but suddenly he could remember it clear as day.

After circling around the clearing a couple of time, Arthur had to admit that Gwaine and Leon had been right in their initial assessment, there was no sign of Morgana entering or leaving the clearing after dropping Arthur off that day.

Walking back to the center of the clearing Arthur kneeled down and picked up the forgotten arrow that had been holding the note and neckerchief in place for Arthur.

Fiddling with the arrow in his fingers Arthur let out a sigh.

“So what do we do now?” Gwaine asked, as the two knights approached Arthur from behind.

Arthur knew it was hopeless. He had been a knight of Camelot for enough years to know when there was no chance of tracking someone down when they had made sure to cover their tracks this well. He knew it was hopeless and that Gwaine and Leon probably realized it too.

But Merlin never gave up on Arthur, even when everything seemed lost, Merlin always believed in Arthur. So now it was Arthur’s turn, and there was no way he was going to give up on Merlin.

“Well isn’t it obvious?” Arthur asked with the knights still at his back. 

“We’re going to keep searching.” Arthur admitted.

“Well that’s excellent, because some strong words would have been exchanged if you had said anything different.” Gwaine said with a laugh, smacking Leon in the back.

“But where do we even begin looking?” Leon asked, clearly uncertain about their current lack of a plan for finding their missing friend.

“For right now it doesn’t matter, tonight we’ll head back to Camelot and come up with a plan of action, but we’re not giving up on Merlin.” Arthur declared.

Arthur turned his head around to look at the two knights that he trusted above all the rest. 

“I know you’re in Gwaine, but what about you Leon?” Arthur asked, not entirely sure what the man’s answer would be.

“Merlin never gave up on us, always riding into danger at our sides when he knew there was every chance that he wouldn’t return, and he was always there for us when we needed him most. I’m sure as hell not giving up on Merlin now when he needs us. So you can count me in.” Leon answered without hesitation. 

Gwaine immediately let out a cheer and flung an arm around his fellow knight. 

With a smile Arthur turned back around and slowly stood up with the arrow still in his hand.

“Don’t worry Merlin, we’re coming for you.” Arthur said under his breath.


	12. Chapter 12

It had been two months.

Two months had passed since Arthur first returned to Camelot. 

Eight weeks and there was still no sign of Morgana or Merlin. As much as Arthur wanted to go out to find and save Merlin from the clutches of his crazed half sister, it was a bit difficult to do considering that they had no clue where to even begin looking for them. 

From what Gwaine and Leon described, their hunt for Merlin was the same as it had been when they were searching for Arthur – disappointing and hopeless. It was as if Morgana and vanished from the face of the earth.

But every other day, a patrol was sent out, headed by Gwaine, Leon, Percival, or Elyan, in search of some clue or whisper that might tell them where Morgana might be, but each night they returned empty handed.

But without fail, every other morning a patrol was sent out at first light in search of something that might give them some idea of where to start searching for the missing manservant. 

While the public didn’t officially know about these little trips and their purpose, they weren’t exactly a secret either. Besides the knights, Gaius and Gwen were the only other people who knew of the true purpose of these patrols. 

And Arthur was convinced that Uther wasn’t as oblivious as he pretended to be. It was possible that he didn’t know at the beginning, but after two months there was no way he couldn’t, but for some reason the king continued to play dumb to Arthur’s blatantly obvious attempts at rescuing his manservant.

After awhile it was hard for anyone to miss the patrol leaving at the same time every other morning and returning at the same time in the evening.

But something happened that put all of Arthur’s plans and patrols on pause. 

Ever since Arthur’s recovery, he and Uther both made a point to have dinner together every evening. 

Prior to Arthur’s capture, during the meals they shared together, when they weren’t eating they spent the majority of the time discussing matters of state. Talking endlessly about battle plans, potential threats, allies, and the training of the knights. 

It wasn’t like they didn’t discuss these things anymore, just not during meals. To be honest, Arthur couldn’t tell you what it was they talked about during the time the spent together. The conversation between them just seemed to – flow. During those times, Arthur never felt like he was talking to the king, but he felt like he was just talking to his father. 

On that particular night, their discussion had some how wondered onto the topic of Guinevere. 

“I still have no clue how she managed to get through to you.” Arthur said with a laugh, reminiscing over the months when Gwen almost single handedly took care of the king.

“You shouldn’t underestimate her Arthur, she’s a lovely and capable young woman.” Uther said with a laugh before taking another bite of food.

Arthur just looked at his father in amazement. It wasn’t that long ago that Uther had attempted to banish the girl from Camelot, and here he was complementing her. Shaking his head, Arthur went back to eating his food.

After a couple of seconds, Uther spoke up again.

“You know Arthur,” the tone in his voice caused Arthur look up from his plate. 

“She really is –“ but before he could finish, he was taken over by a coughing fit. 

“Father?” Arthur exclaimed as he jumped up from his seat, thinking that he was choking on a bit of food. But Uther held up his hand to tell Arthur that he was okay. Grabbing his napkin off his lap, Uther continued to hack into the cloth until the fit passed. 

“Are you okay father?” Arthur asked, clearly concerned.

“I’m perfectly fine.” Uther assured him as he wiped his mouth, after setting his napkin on the table Uther attempted to return to their previous conversation.

“Anyways, as I was saying Arthur, Guinevere is…Arthur?” Uther stopped upon seeing the petrified look on his son’s face.

“Arthur what’s wrong?” Following his son’s eye line, he glanced down at the napkin that was resting on the table next to his plate. 

In the middle of the white cloth was a vibrant red stain where Uther had just been coughing into. 

Without a second thought, Arthur jumped up from the table to tell the guards standing outside to go and fetch Gaius. But Uther remained seated, transfixed on the bit of cloth.

He wasn’t sure how much time had passed, but the next thing he knew, Gaius was kneeling on the floor in front of him. 

“Sire, what happened?” The physician asked. But it was Arthur who replied.

“We were just talking when he suddenly started coughing. When he finally pulled his napkin away, I noticed this.” Arthur explained as he handed the bloodstained napkin over to Gaius to examine.

“Arthur, why don’t you take your father up to his chambers while I grab some supplies and I’ll meet you both there shortly.” Gaius said after examining the cloth for a few seconds.

Ten minutes later, Gaius walked into the Uther’s chambers to see the king lying in bed while Arthur sat in a chair a few feet away. Gaius couldn’t help but smile at seeing the two of them. Ever since Arthur’s return, the relationship between the king and his son had been completely altered.

He would never say that Uther hadn’t loved Arthur before he was taken by Morgana, but the king had been careful about how he showed his emotions, especially in public. Even when if it had just been the three of them in a room, Uther was still reserved, always afraid that he would appear weak if he showed any strong sentiment towards his son.

But now it was as if the king didn’t care any longer. It was like Uther didn’t want to waste anymore time putting on the face of a strong and unwavering king. 

“Ah Gaius, come in.” Uther said when he noticed the physician standing in the doorway.

Closing the door behind him, Gaius made his way over to the king’s bedside and set down the items he retrieved from his chambers.

“So Gaius, do you have any ideas about what might be causing this?” Arthur asked, motioning to the bloody napkin.

“I have a few ideas, but I can’t be certain. I need to run a few tests before I can come to any sort of conclusion.” Gaius explained as he pulled a few vials out of his case.

“Arthur, it already late. Why don’t you go get some sleep?” Uther suggested. Arthur was about to argue, but Uther continued before the prince could get a word in. 

“I will be perfectly fine and besides, Gaius probably won’t know anything till morning so you might as well get as much sleep as you can.”

Arthur looked to Gaius, who nodded as if to tell him everything would indeed be fine.

Arthur sighed. “If anything happens, don’t hesitate to send the guards to retrieve me.” Arthur reached forward and rested his hand on his father’s. “I’ll be here first thing tomorrow morning.”

With that, Arthur made his exit out of the chambers, leaving Uther and Gaius alone.

When Uther could no longer hear Arthur’s retreating footsteps down the hallway he turned to the physician. “So Gaius, tell me. What is it?” 

Gaius fumbled with the vials in his hand, his back still towards the king.

“Excuse me sire.” He remarked, trying to sound as normal as possible.

Uther couldn’t help but grin at the physicians attempt act as if he didn’t already know what was wrong with him.

“Gaius, you have been a trusted friend and advisor of mine for many years now, through good and bad times, you’ve always been there for me.” Gaius set the vials down on the bedside table and sat down in the chair that Arthur had previously been sitting in.

“So Gaius, I know when you’re holding something back. So please, just tell me.” 

Gaius sighed. It was moments like these that really showed how much Uther had changed. Sitting before the physician, for the first time in many years, he could see a glimpse of the man Uther had once been, back in the years before the Great Purge, and before the days of the High Priestesses and the Great Alliance. Being able to see that man in Uther now only made Gaius’s job that much more difficult.

“As you’re probably aware sire, it is not uncommon for a man injured in battle to sometimes cough up blood due to internal damage. But for a man to cough up blood without being injured is exceptionally rare. I myself have only come across it once before, and that was many years ago.” 

Gaius paused, trying to decide how he should continue. As much as he wanted to believe that Uther didn’t have the same illness that had taken that man, he knew deep down that it most likely was.

“I’m dying.” It wasn’t a question. It was just a statement. Uther didn’t sound angry or fearful; he just said the two words as if it were a simple fact.

“I believe so sire.” Gaius stammered, not wanting to believe it himself.

“How long do I have then?” Uther asked.

“At least two months. At most you’ll have six.” Gaius said, his voice shaking. The king was dying.

“Besides the coughing, what else will there be?” The king asked sounding exhausted.

“Well you will develop a shortness of breath, you will begin to feel fatigued, chest and back pains, night sweats, weight loss, and just a general feelings of being unwell.” Gaius listed, as he clasped his hands together.

“How long will I be able to continue on with my regular duties as king?” Uther asked. No dodging or dancing around it, Uther wanted to get straight to the point.

“Two months, maybe three if we are lucky. But you’ll begin to struggle with your day-to-day activities well before that. It’s at that point that you will probably end up confined to your chambers.” 

“And there’s nothing you can do to slow it down or stop it?” Uther questioned, already aware of what the physician’s answer was going to be.

“I’m sorry sire, but no. There’s nothing I can do.” Gaius admitted feeling defeated. As the king’s physician, he should be able to cure the king, but there was nothing that neither he nor anyone else could do.

The first time Gaius came across this unidentified illness he tried everything in his power to save the man that it had infected. But every remedy, potion, and herb he used failed to slow down the sickness, and in the end it took the man’s life.

For years Gaius researched the illness, but every book he read and every person he came across all said the same thing: there was no cure. 

“You say I have two months until I am bedridden yes? Is there a possibility that it could progress faster?” 

Gaius was a little surprised by the question, but nodded. “There’s no way for me to tell how far along it has progressed until you start showing other symptoms. If it moves fast enough, it may only be two weeks, but there’s no way for me to tell.”

Uther starred into space as his brain processed the new information. 

“If you don’t mind me saying sire, you seem to be taking the news exceedingly well.” 

“I’m a bit surprised myself.” He admitted with a laugh. “I can’t explain it, but deep down I think I’ve known for awhile now.”

After a few moments of silence, a thought struck the king.

“Gaius, you do know that I trust in your counsel above all others yes?” 

Gaius smiled and gave a small nod.

“I have a idea and I would like to hear your thoughts on it.” 

At first Gaius was shocked to hear the king’s proposal. But after Uther explained his reasoning behind it, the physician couldn’t help but feel both saddened and proud of the king’s choice. 

Late into the night, the king and the physician detailed the plans for what would need to be done during the next few days and weeks. But the majority of what needed to be done would have to wait until the next day. 

It would have to wait till Uther could talk to his son.  
.  
.  
.  
.  
.  
As promised, the minute Arthur woke up the next morning, the prince dressed himself and started making his way across the castle. 

The week following his initial recovery, Arthur had a significant amount of difficulty when it came to dressing himself in the mornings. On multiple occasions, there would be a knock at the door and Gwen would come in to find Arthur trapped in one of his tunics. But he eventually learned how to do it himself. 

His father had tried to get him to use George as his servant, but he just couldn’t do it. George’s stay as his manservant lasted all of two hours before Arthur just asked him to leave. It wasn’t that George was a bad servant, he was anything but that, he was perfect example of what a servant should be. But he just wasn’t Merlin.

Yes Merlin was clumsy, forgetful, and borderline useless, but those were the things that made Merlin…well that made him Merlin. And to hear George bustling about his chambers, never dropping his armor, and never offering up some snide comment, it just made Merlin’s absence that much more painful. 

So for the better part of two months, Arthur had survived without a servant. Well, except for Gwen who still insisted on bringing him his breakfast in the morning.

When Arthur finally walked into his father’s chambers, he was surprised to see that Gaius was already there and that they were both sitting at the table. He all of a sudden felt his stomach drop.

“Father? Gaius?” Arthur asked uneasily.

“Ah Arthur, we’ve been waiting for you. Come have a seat.” Uther said, his voice calm as he motioned to the seat next to him.

Arthur slowly made his way to the table. Nothing had really been said, but he could feel that something was terribly wrong.

Once Arthur took his seat, Uther looked at him with a smile.

“Arthur, it’s hard to believe how much you’ve grown. In the last four years alone you’ve grown into a completely different man. You’re no longer the boy who use to run around terrorizing the city.” He said with a chuckle.

He could remember the days when a young Arthur would sneak onto the practice fields to pester the knights. Thinking about those days and seeing that same boy as a man sitting in front of him now filled his heart with pride.

“Father, I don’t understand.” Arthur said, clearly confused with the direction of the conversation.

“Arthur, you are an intelligent and capable man and I’m incredibly proud to call you my son.” He paused to delight in the look of confusion on Arthur’s face.

“And there is not a single doubt in my mind that you are ready to become king.” The confidence in Uther’s voice was unwavering and he meant every word of it.

“Wait – king?” Arthur stuttered, the panic washing over him as his father’s words repeated over again in his head.

“Yes Arthur. King.” 

For the next two hours, Gaius and Uther explained everything that had occurred the night before to Arthur. They told him about the king’s illness and his plans to renounce his title to the throne. 

In a week’s time Arthur would be crowned king of Camelot.

During the short period of time that Uther had left, he wanted to be there to help Arthur make the transition from prince to king. Since his death was imminent, there was no reason for him to drag out his reign any longer.

Once upon a time he might have hung on to his title tooth and nail until the very end, but not anymore. All he wanted to do was to watch his son as he took his rightful place on the throne of Camelot. And during the time he had left Uther would act as his advisor; aiding Arthur is any way possible.

For Arthur, the next seven days passed in a haze.

That’s how Arthur found himself standing in the middle of his room surrounded by Gwaine, Leon, Gwen, and Gaius.

As they talked amongst themselves, Arthur tried to recall what had actually happened since his father had told him about the plan to pass the crown onto him, but the seven days in between were just a blur of council meetings and discussions about what needed to be done to insure a smooth transition. 

But here he was, standing in his chambers, wearing the clothes that he would soon be crowned king in. 

Within the hour he would be crowned king of Camelot. Up to that point he had managed to keep a steady head about the events that were about to occur, but with every minute that passed, he was getting closer to losing it.

“Gwaine and Leon, would you mind leaving us for a few minutes?” Arthur asked, trying to not sound as panicked as he felt.

“Sure mate, we’ll see you at the ceremony.” Gwaine babbled as he slapped Arthur on the back before he and Leon made their exit. “See you soon King Arthur.” Gwaine added with a laugh, before closing the door behind them.

As soon as the door was shut, Arthur let out a gasp.

“I can’t do this.” He muttered as he started to pace back and forth across the floor.

Both Gaius and Gwen stopped what they were doing and looked at the soon to be king. 

“Arthur –“

“No Gwen I can’t, I’m not ready, I just –“ Arthur fell down into the nearest chair and put his face in his hands.

“Gwen, why don’t you go check on Uther?” Gaius whispered. With a small nod, Gwen left Gaius to handle the situation.

Pulling a chair up, Gaius sat down in front of the prince.

“Arthur, you are more than ready to become king.”

“But Gaius I –“ But the physician cut him off,

“Please let me finish Arthur.” He said as he tried to find the right words to ease his mind.

“You may not see it, but we all have faith in you Arthur, and I’m not talking about just your father and me. All of us, Gwen, Gwaine, Leon, Percival, Elyan, and everyone else that truly knows you. We all know that you are going to be a great king. I truly believe that you will be one of the greatest kings that Camelot has ever seen.”

Arthur couldn’t stop the chuckle that escaped his mouth at hearing Gaius’ words.

“You sound like Merlin.” He admitted. Lifting his head from his hands, Gaius could see the sadness that covered the young man’s face. Gaius couldn’t help but let out a small laugh as well.

“I do don’t I.” He sighed, remembering Merlin’s complete and unwavering confidence in Arthur and the future that he would bring to Camelot.

“More than any of us, Merlin believed in you – believed in your destiny to one day become a great king.” 

“My destiny.” He scoffed, shaking his head, but his face abruptly turned solemn. 

“He once said that he would be happy being my servant until the day he died.” Arthur said, the lump rising in his throat.

“That doesn’t surprise me at all.” Gaius replied with a sad smile.

Arthur looked around his empty chambers, and everywhere he looked there was a ghost of Merlin. Snide comments, goblets being thrown, armor dropped. But that’s all they were now – ghosts.

“He should be here Gaius.” Arthur whispered. 

It wasn’t till that moment that he realized it, but Merlin had become such an important part of his life that he never expected him not to be there. Deep down he always expected that Merlin would be there when he would eventually be crowned king. But here he was, about to crowned king, and Merlin was nowhere to be found. 

Realizing that Merlin wasn’t going to be there, standing there in the crowd as the crown was placed on his head, cheering with the rest of the court, it felt like a massive hole was being torn open in his chest.

The sadness over the realization hit Gaius as well. This was the moment that Merlin had been working and waiting for since he first came to Camelot all those years ago.

For four years Merlin has stood at Arthur’s side, fighting with and protecting so that he would one day become king of Camelot.

That day had finally arrived and Merlin wasn’t going to be there to see it, and it broke Gaius’ heart.

“He should be here Gaius.” Arthur repeated, a single tear escaping from his eyes.

If it were possible, Gaius’ heart broke even more at seeing the extent of Arthur’s grief over Merlin’s absence. 

“I know Arthur, I know.” Gaius sighed as a few tears escaped his own eyes.


	13. Chapter 13

The sounds of the busy town in the courtyard below were bouncing off the stone walls, echoing in the silent throne room. The massive chamber was completely empty, except for the large round table at the center of the room, two ceremonial thrones and the newly crowned king sitting on the steps below them.

A month had passed since Arthur Pendragon had been crowned King of Camelot.

With the help of Gaius, Arthur had managed to pull himself together and make his way down to the crowded throne room where he eventually took his rightful place as Uther’s heir on the throne of Camelot.

With the guidance of his father, his first month as king seemed to pass relatively smoothly. When his father had first told Arthur of his plan to step down from the throne and his role as king, he thought that his father had lost his mind.

Never in the history of Camelot, or any other kingdom as far as Arthur was aware of, had a king willingly stepped down to let his heir take his place. But after a month of being king, Arthur couldn’t imagine not having someone at his side as an advisor of sorts.

Then again, if things had been different, he would have guessed that Merlin would have filled those shoes in some way or another. 

As Arthur sat on the stone steps reflecting over the events of the last month, he couldn’t help but smile at the thought of his manservant.

The truth was that Merlin was more than just a servant to him, a fact that Arthur had accepted exactly three months ago. Merlin was a friend – a friend whose opinion he respected above all others.

The fact that he hadn’t been there was Arthur was crowned king hurt more than he would ever admit. At the times Arthur needed it most, Merlin would be there with some form of well-timed insight. 

Merlin always said that Arthur would one day be a great king, and here he was, king of Camelot, and his manservant was no where to be found.

He’d always assumed that Merlin would continue being his servant even after he had be crowned king. But that wouldn’t have made him any less of a friend. Also, besides his father, Merlin was the only person he could trust to call him out when he was being an unreasonable prat.

On countless occasions, the two of them would be doing something when he would make some snide comment to the man, and without skipping a beat, Merlin would shoot back with his own remark, usually calling him a clotpole or some other name he had made up.

Thinking about the familiar insult suddenly filled the young king with a deep sadness.

As familiar as the nickname was, he couldn’t remember the last time Merlin had actually called him a clotpole. 

It had been months since he’d last seen him. Some days it felt like it had been an eternity since he’d seen his manservant’s broken body on the floor of that dungeon, but then other days it felt like it had been no time at all. 

And even after three months, the gaps in his memories from the time he had spent with Morgana were still there.

In the first few weeks, Gaius had assured him that there was every possibility that the memories would return to him, that these things just needed time. But in Arthur’s opinion, the physician didn’t seem all that concerned about the memories returning to him.

For some reason that the king couldn’t quite explain, he felt like there was a part of Gaius that didn’t want him to remember when happened to him and Merlin.

As Arthur felt himself instinctively start to reach for the missing memories in the depths of his mind, the familiar fire started to flare up in the center of his mind. Sighing, Arthur brought his hands up to his head as he slowly started to rub small circles into the sides of his temple in an attempt to ease the pain.

Over the three months since his return, these unexplainable flare-ups had become a regular occurrence, usually showing up whenever he tried to remember what happened to them in that dungeon all those months ago.

For the first few weeks after his initial recovery, he would go down to Gaius’ chambers whenever the headaches would make an appearance. And each time he would try to explain to the older man that they weren’t like any headache he’d ever experienced before.

But each time Gaius would say the same thing to him, that the headaches were an expected side effect from the head injury that he was still recovering from. In the end the physician would give him a potion to help ease the pain and send him on his way.

Eventually Arthur just stopped going to the physician for the pain, not just because he was sick of hearing him saying the same thing each time he tried to explain that it wasn’t just any headache, but also because the potion itself seemed to work less and less each time he took it.

After three months of living with the fire in his head day in and day out, Arthur had learned to deal with it. After all, they were just headaches. There was no reason for him to run down to see Gaius every time his head started to hurt.

As far as everyone else was concerned, Arthur’s headaches had stopped months ago. But they were still there- weaving in and out of the king’s daily life. 

After months of countless patrols, the search for Merlin and Morgana were still coming up empty.

Once he was crowned king, Arthur had to scale back the patrols that were regularly sent out. These days he was lucky if he was able to send them out twice in a single week.

Though they never talked about it, he father would give him a look every time he sent one of them out. He wouldn’t exactly describe it as a look of disapproval. But with one glance, without having to say a single word, he knew exactly what his father was thinking. 

It was as if Uther was saying: When are you going to let yourself accept the fact that you’re not going to find him? He’s gone Arthur. And there’s nothing that you or anyone else can do to fix this.

Usually he would ignore his father’s knowing looks, but that morning he couldn’t hold it in anymore.

As he watched Gwaine and Leon ride out that morning from the courtyard, he heard his father’s recognizable footsteps move up beside him. He didn’t need to turn towards his father to know that the look was plastered on his face.

“I’m not giving up on him father.” He pronounced. “I realize that after three months of searching, that there’s almost no chance of finding anything at this point.” 

He finally turned to look at his father who was standing next to him on the steps of the citadel, his face fully of pity for his son who was still hoping that some news would come.

“You think that I don’t realize how hopeless it is? Because I do. It’s something that I have to face every single day. But I can’t give up on him knowing that he would never give up on me.” Finishing his impromptu speech and needing some time to his self; Arthur made his way up to the empty throne room.

Arthur fingered the red neckerchief around his wrist as he thought about the note that Morgana had left for him in the clearing. In a strange way, it was his sister’s short note that gave him hope that he would one day see Merlin again.

He repeated the last line from the note over again in his head. 

“But do not fret; you will be seeing us soon.” 

She was keeping him alive – for some reason she was keeping Merlin alive. As much as this simple fact comforted him, it also filled him with a deep sense of dread and foreboding. 

Morgana obviously had another plan for the manservant, a plan that would eventually involve Arthur as well. Why else would she let him go, leaving him with that note? Arthur could feel it in the pit of his stomach; he would be seeing Merlin and Morgana soon.

What Arthur didn’t know was that he would be seeing them much sooner than he could have possibly imagined. 

That’s when Arthur heard the unmistakable sound of horses galloping into the courtyard below, probably Gwaine and Leon returning from their patrol,

Had he really just wasted away his entire day sitting alone in the throne room? 

Arthur let out a frustrated sigh and ran a hand through his messy blonde hair. He really needed to stop this. As king he couldn’t spend his day sulking about.

As Arthur pulled himself off the floor to make his exit, he stopped as the light streaming in from the window caught his eye. As if he were in a daze, Arthur slowly made his way over to the window and pushed it open, causing the bright sunlight to come pouring in.

When his eyes finally adjusted to the light, he realized that the sun was still high in the sky. It was still relatively early in the afternoon, nowhere near the time that Gwaine and Leon were scheduled to return. If anything, he wasn’t expecting them to come back till much later in the evening, especially since they always seemed to return late on days they went out together.

But when looking closer into the courtyard below the window, there was no doubt in Arthur’s mind that the two horses down there were Gwaine and Leon’s. For some reason, the two knights had come back early. 

Suddenly he heard the sound of footsteps running down the corridor towards the throne room. The next thing Arthur knew, the massive doors were thrown open and the two knights came rushing in. 

Something had happened while they were on patrol. Something had changed.

As much as Arthur wanted to stop the feelings that were rising up in his chest, he couldn’t help being consumed by the feeling of hope that was quickly growing inside of him. 

“What is it?” He demanded, needing to hear what news the two knights had to tell him. 

Both Gwaine and Leon were out of breath and gasping for air, but as soon as they saw Arthur, they both broke out into smiles. 

“She’s been spotted.” Gwaine finally revealed, his face beaming. 

The three little words were all Arthur needed to break out into a smile of his own. After three months of nothing, they finally have something, a huge something, to go off of, and they were going to run with it.

Within ten minutes from the arrival of the two knights, the three men had various maps spread out across the round table as Gwaine and Leon went over what they had learned. Apparently they had been in a nearby village, more specifically, they had been in the local tavern.

“Really?” Arthur groaned. “You two were having drinks in the middle of the afternoon when you’re suppose to be on patrol?” 

“No Arthur, we weren’t drinking.” Lean insisted, shooting a look towards Gwaine, “As much as a certain somebody wished we had been.”

Gwaine ignored the comment that was obviously directed towards him.

“Hey, never underestimate the power of a good tavern. When you’re looking for news from various kingdoms, a good ole tavern is usually the best place to start. Besides, if we hadn’t gone to the tavern we would have missed that man coming in raving about news of the lady Morgana.” Gwaine finished; looking quite pleased with him self.

“Well get on with it then.” Arthur sighed, getting impatient. 

Leon jumped in. “From what the man said, Morgana had been spotted making her way through Cenred’s kingdom. The last he’d heard was that she was nearing the boarder between Cenred’s kingdom and Camelot, somewhere near here.” Leon explained, pointing the spot out on one the maps sprawled out on the table in front of them. 

“That’s not far from here.” Arthur said, unsure if he should be excited or worried that she was so close.

Morgana was making her way back to Camelot.

Just at that moment, the doors to the throne room opened. Instinctively drawing their swords, the king and two knights turned to see Uther and Gaius entering the room, Gaius closing the door behind them.

“Arthur, what’s going on?” Uther asked upon seeing the spread of maps covering the round table. 

Arthur, Gwaine, and Leon immediately sheathed their swords when they realized that it was only Gaius and Uther. The news of Morgana being so near to Camelot had put them on edge.

“It Morgana, she’s been spotted.” Arthur replied. Looks of shock instantly covered the new arrivals’ faces. Swiftly, the two men made their way around the table to where the other men were standing.

“What? Where?” Uther demanded.

The two older men gathered around the maps with the king and his two most loyal knights. Leon once again repeated the story he’d just relayed to Arthur, this time leaving out the part about the tavern.

“She’s making her way towards Camelot.” Uther groaned, looking as if the weight of the world had just been dropped onto his shoulders.

Since Arthur had been crowned king a month earlier, Uther had taken a bit of time off. To Gaius and Arthur’s relief, Uther’s health didn’t appear to be declining as rapidly as they had originally expected. But in that moment, his growing weakness from his illness was apparent all over his face. Stepping back, the former king carefully took a seat on the stone steps that Arthur had been occupying earlier that day. 

Arthur stepped forward and kneeled down in front of his father, worried that the new information was too much for him to handle in his current condition.

“Father?” Arthur whispered, the concern clear in his voice.

Uther gave his son a small smile. “I’m quite alright. I just never thought that there was a possibility that I might see her again before I –“ Uther stopped, unable to say the words everyone was thinking.

The former king was unexpectedly taken by a coughing fit. Pulling out a piece of cloth from his trouser pocket, Uther proceeded to hack into the cloth until the fit passed. Once it was over, Uther pulled the cloth away from his mouth and quickly shoved it back into his pocket. As much as they tried, the other occupants of the room were unable to ignore the fresh red stain on the napkin. 

He was getting worse.

After catching his breath, Uther made a move to stand. Arthur unconsciously reached out to help his father get to his feet.

“So, what’s the plan?” Uther asked, trying to appear strong in front of his son.

It was Leon who finally spoke up. 

“Well we have one of two options. Either we ride out in search of her. Or we wait.”

“Wait?” Gaius asked.

“From what we’ve heard, she’s obviously making her way to Camelot. In my opinion, it would be more prudent for us to stay here and prepare for her inevitable arrival.” Leon explained, not sounding completely convinced that this was the best idea.

“So you’re suggestion we sit here and wait for her to show up?” Gwaine scoffed, clearly not liking this plan of him. “We’re like sitting ducks.”

“I don’t like this plan either Gwaine, but it’s the best we’ve got.” The older knight groaned. “Would you rather us go out and have her sneak past us into the citadel?” Gwaine huffed when he realized that the older knight had a point.

“So we wait.” Arthur said, not entirely happy with the plan him self. But he knew that it was the one that made the most sense.

“How long do you think we have till she reaches the city?” Arthur asked, thinking about what they needed to do to prepare for her arrival. 

“Two days maybe, but I can’t be certain.” Leon admitted, clearly uncomfortable with the amount of unknown variables they were faced with.

Arthur signed and ran a hand through his hair again. All this discussion of Morgana’s approach was causing the ache in his head to flare up again. Squeezing his eyes shut, Arthur attempted to will it to go away. He needed his head to be clear for the events that were going to come.

“Arthur are you alight?” Gaius asked, his voice hesitant and concerned.

The king’s eyes opened and he glanced over at the older man.

“I’m fine Gaius.” Arthur lied, giving the physician a reassuring smile. But from the look on Gaius’ face, he could tell that the physician wasn’t buying it. 

Gaius could tell that the young king was lying to him. He was clearly in pain, and from the looks of it, it appeared to be a headache. But as quickly as Arthur let his mask drop, letting the pain show on his face for a brief second, the man had put it back up.

The fact that Arthur had been able to play if off as if it were nothing worried Gaius. During Arthur’s initial recovery period he had complained about headaches, saying that they weren’t like any he’d had before. But at the time Gaius was sure that it was nothing, that they were just a side effect from his head injury. And eventually Arthur stopped coming to him, no longer needing the potions that the physician had been providing for him.

Gaius wanted to push the subject; worried that Arthur’s headaches had never really stopped at all. But before he could say anything further, there was a crash in the corridor just outside the throne room doors. 

Arthur, Gwaine, and Leon instinctively pushed the two older men behind them as they unsheathed their swords for the second time that afternoon.

After a few seconds, a force stronger than any man smashed into the wooden doors, causing them to burst open and slam into the walls on either side of them. 

In through the doorway entered none other than Morgana Pendragon. Strutting forward as a satisfied and twisted smirk grew on the women’s face. 

In her wake was a shadowy figured draped in a dark maroon cloak gliding a few feet behind her. 

It was as if the appearance of the two them somehow sucked all the warmth from the air in the room. In addition, the men on the far side of the room were suddenly filled with an unusual sense of dread. They couldn’t quite explain it, but there was something about the cloaked figure that was now standing beside Morgana that just felt so utterly wrong and unnatural, and it was setting them even more on edge.

“Morgana.” Arthur growled, his voice accusing and full of anger. For the most part Arthur had been able to hold his emotions in check up to that point. But the moment he saw the look of satisfaction radiating off his sister’s face, Arthur was unable to control the rage that was exploding inside of him.

“Hello Arthur Pendragon - King of Camelot,” she paused, her smiling growing even wider. “It’s been a long time dear brother.”


	14. Chapter 14

“Hello Arthur Pendragon – King of Camelot. It’s been a long time dear brother.” 

As Arthur held his sword out towards his father’s former ward, he could feel his entire body begin to shake as he tried to hold his stance. Whether it was from the uncomfortable sense of dread that had suddenly washed over him or because he was angrier than he’d ever been in his entire life, it didn’t really matter. Arthur’s whole body was going into over drive; his head and heart both pounding in unison.

“Morgana, where is he?” Arthur demanded through gritted teeth. He needed to pull himself together. This may be their only chance to finally locate Merlin and he wasn’t going to let his emotions ruin that.

“It appears we have some company.” Morgana said, momentarily distracted. Turning her head towards the open doors, she focused on the empty corridor. Within seconds, all the occupants within the throne room could hear the distinct sounds of boots storming towards the throne room.

With a flick of her wrist, Morgana’s eyes flashed gold and the doors to the room slammed shut. The next moment they could hear the knights pounding on the door and shouting, demanding to be let in. 

Another flash of gold from Morgana’s eyes and the sound stopped and the doors stopped rattling.

“What did you do?” Arthur commanded, worried that she had done something to the men who were trying to force their way in.

“There’s no need to worry Arthur, your knights have not been harmed.” She responded, seeing the concern in her brother’s eyes. “I simply put a spell on room so we could speak without interruption. I would like to talk with you all in private.”

As she spoke, Arthur started cautiously edging his way around the round table to get closer to Morgana. As he started to move his father clasped onto his upper arm in attempt to keep him as far away from her as possible, but Arthur easily shook his father’s hand off. 

He couldn’t see, but he could feel Leon’s presence following closely behind him as Gwaine followed them, mimicking their movements along the other side of the table.

“Where is he Morgana?” Arthur repeated the question as he reached the front end of the table, Morgana still standing a good twenty feet away from him. While he remained there to face her, Gwaine and Leon moved to her sides, both still keeping a good distance away.

“I’m sorry dear brother, but you’re going to have to be a bit more specific. I do come across a lot of people in my travels, so I’m not quite sure who exactly you are referring to.” She replied, an unmistakable smirk tugging at her lips.

Arthur clenched his fist around the hilt of his sword. She was acting as if this was some sort of game. The king squeezed his eyes shut as a wave of pain rolled through his mind. Shaking his head, Arthur put his attention back on Morgana and the cloaked stranger. He made an effort to get a better look at the stranger, whose entire body was completely enclosed in the scarlet cloak, but the feeling of uneasiness forced him to look away after only a few seconds. He couldn’t explain why, but a feeling in his gut was telling him that he didn’t want to see what was being concealed underneath the cloak.

Looking back at Morgana, she had an amused smile playing on her lips as she observed Arthur’s reaction to the figure standing at her side. 

“You know exactly who I speak of Morgana. Now where is he?” Arthur fumed, trying to push the feeling of unease out of his mind.

“Oh you mean Merlin?” Morgana finally replied, acting as if she had forgotten all about the manservant.

When Morgana said Merlin’s name, Arthur could have sworn he saw the cloaked figure give a small twitch towards Morgana, but when he stole a glance in his direction, the figure remained completely still.

Morgana let out a delighted laugh as she watched Arthur’s attention focus back onto her, his face a full of anger and confusion.

“Oh yes, your beloved manservant. We did have quite the time him and I. We had a lot of…. fun together.” She grinned, reminiscing over the last three months she’d spent with the manservant.

To his left, Arthur heard Gwaine let out a deep growl. If she wasn’t careful with her words, there was nothing Arthur would be able to do to stop his two knights from attacking her.

Morgana, however, completely ignored the disgruntled knights that were on either side of her. Her eyes remained fixated on the man in front of her.

“You know Arthur, the extent of his loyalty for you still amazes me, even after all this time. I now know that he really would die for you in a heartbeat. He would willing give his life for the once and future king.” She hissed.

From behind him, Arthur heard the old physician let out a gasp. For a short while, Arthur had completely forgotten that his father and Gaius were also present. Without lowering his sword, Arthur turned his head over his shoulder to see if they were both all right. While they were both completely unharmed and still standing, the look of terror on Gaius’ face made it clear that everything was not all right. 

Something about the words that Morgana had spoken shook the physician to his very core. With his eyes wide and holding a shaky hand up to his mouth, Gaius looked as if he were about to collapse. 

A thousand thoughts were racing through the old man’s head as he struggled to keep standing. But there was one the overshadowed all the rest: Morgana knew. She didn’t have to spell it out for him, because her words said it all.

He would be willing to give his life for the once and future king.

Not only did she know that Merlin was Emrys, but she knew about the prophecies that were foretold by the druids. And she chose her words carefully, as if it were an experiment to see their response. And from the look of satisfaction on her face, Gaius realized that he’d given her exactly what she wanted.

She wanted to see which of them knew about Merlin and his secret, about the prophecies, about his identity as Emrys. And now she knew – Gaius was the only one who knew the truth.

Standing beside him, Uther reached out to Gaius, concerned, but at the same time he was apprehensive. There was something that Gaius knew that the rest of them did not, something that he was hiding. Whatever it was that he was hiding, it made Morgana that much more dangerous. 

Arthur finally turned his head back to Morgana when she started speaking again.

“Yes, the once and future king, the man who the prophecies speak of, foretelling that he will one day unite all lands of Albion with the help of the great and powerful Emrys.” Morgana recited, practically spitting out the last word, as if the name Emrys was a bad taste stained on her tongue.

The instant the name Emrys left her lips, the fire in Arthur’s head morphed into an inferno, almost bringing the king to his knees. The name Emrys pulling at the forgotten memories he’d been prodding at for months. The name was like a bubble of air trapped in the depths of a lake, trying to force its way to the surface, fighting to be remembered. But no memories came – just pain.

As difficult as it was, Arthur tried to push the name out of his mind, and as the pain slowly ebbed, he brought himself back up to full height, his eyes instantly connecting once again with Morgana’s. The fire hadn’t completely departed from his mind, but he could at least manage it at this point.

Arthur’s unexpected reaction to Morgana’s words took the physician by surprise. As Arthur fought to remain standing, his free hand shot straight up to cradle the left side of his temple.

Arthur’s sudden head pain set off a red flag inside of Gaius. In that moment, there was no doubt in the physicians mind that the king’s headaches had continued even after Arthur had stopped coming to see him for them. 

But there was still something that Gaius was missing, something massive that was staring him straight in the eye. But his mind was drawing a blank, but whatever it was that he was missing, he could feel that it would be their undoing, and they were running out of time. 

“Where is he?” Arthur repeated again. He’d had enough of her distractions, Arthur wanted answers - he wanted to know where Merlin was.

But Morgana just chuckled and shook her head like she was finding this entire situation amusing.

“It’s remarkable,” she mused “you’re just as pathetic as that sorry excuse for a manservant was.”

As small as the word had been, her use of was didn’t escape anyone’s attention. What exactly was she insinuating. 

At that exact same moment, both Gwaine and Leon had decided they’d had enough of Morgana’s incessant prattle, and they both rushed forward brandishing their swords, ready to shut her up themselves.

Arthur should have done something to stop them, they needed her alive if they were ever going to find Merlin. But something told him that they weren’t going to make it that far.

It was like Arthur was watching everything happen in slow motion. In his periphery, he could see his two most trusted knights rushing towards Morgana at full speed, but Arthur never took his eyes of Morgana, whose eyes were still firmly locked on his. If he had looked away, he would have missed the look of satisfaction that manifested itself on her face when she realized what was about to happen.

Before Gwaine or Leon could get within five feet of Morgana and the cloaked figure at her side, they collided into an invisible wall that appeared out of nowhere as soon as the two men made contact. It was like Morgana and the figure were trapped inside a giant green shield that was no doubt created by magic to protect them. 

The instant the knights hit the barrier, the magical shield threw them fifteen feet backwards, both men crashing down hard on the stone floor on either side of the throne room. While neither of them were knocked unconscious, both had the breath knocked out of them and were somewhat dazed from the impact.

Arthur was worried about the state of Gwaine and Leon, but he couldn’t tear his eyes away from his sister, who was still smiling. If Arthur had looked away for even a second during Gwaine and Leon’s attempted attack he would have easily missed it. He would have missed the look in his sister’s eyes when the knights made contact with the barrier, missed the satisfaction, and missed the fact that her eyes remained their striking shade of green during the entire attack.

And in that moment Arthur knew - Morgana wasn’t the one who was conjuring the barrier.

Seeing the gleam in her eyes only grow, Arthur’s eyes warily shifted towards the hooded figure standing at her side. The figure that stood there like a statue, completely silent through everything that had occurred thus far, and who was the main source of Arthur’s unease since their unexpected arrival. Whatever this person or creature was, there was something so unnatural and wrong about its very presence, and Arthur didn’t want to be anywhere near it.

“You don’t like him do you Arthur?” Morgana asked, her voice almost at a whisper as she stepped towards the king, seeing Arthur’s uneasiness towards the man standing next to her. 

Arthur’s eyes darted back to her, unable to completely conceal the fear that was so painfully evident in them. 

“I must admit, I am curious about something.” Morgana said, only a few feet away from her brother now, whose sword was still raised in her direction.

“I’ve wondered for quite awhile now what would happen if-“ She paused, focusing on the internal debate that was raging on inside of her.

“I really shouldn’t, but I have to know – I must know.” She confessed. She had made up her mind. With a small smile, she turned her back on Arthur and started making her way towards the cloaked man. 

He was a man. Her original question had revealed that much. 

She was going to lower the man’s hood, but a voice inside Arthur was screaming, telling him to stop her, to do something – anything to keep her from revealing the man underneath the hood.

“Where is he?” He asked again, his voice shaking, no longer having the strength and force it had only a few minutes before hand. With every step she took towards the man, the feeling of unease in the room only seemed to grow, her very presence affecting the hooded figure as she got closer.

Finally Morgana was directly in front of the man, completely blocking Arthur’s view, which to be honest, he was somewhat thankful for. Slowly reaching her hands up, careful not to actually touch the figure standing before her, Morgana slid the tips of her fingers along the inside of the hood. But before making another movement to remove the hood, she stole a glance over her shoulder, her eyes connecting once again with her brother’s, a small but triumphant smile on her lips.

“Oh dear brother, you’ve missed what’s been in front of your eyes this entire time – what’s been standing right here in front of you.” 

Arthur’s heart sank. It wasn’t possible. There’s no way that that cloaked figure could possibly be – it couldn’t be him. He would have fought; he wouldn’t have stood there at her side, remaining completely silent and obedient to his deranged sister. And the feeling of uneasiness radiating off the cloaked figure, that wasn’t him, it was the exact opposite of everything he was. He was warm and full of joy; like an obnoxious sun that wouldn’t go away even when you told it to. He wasn’t this cold and unnatural thing that was standing before him now. It couldn’t be him.

But the twisted grin on Morgana’s face told a completely different story; it was saying that this was her final move; it was saying that she had won. 

Turning back to the task at hand, Morgana slowly lifted the hood up and back off the man’s head standing before her.

Though Arthur couldn’t see the man’s face, Gwaine and Leon, who had managed to finally recover from their attack, had an unobstructed view of the man beneath the cloak. Arthur’s eyes quickly darted back and forth between the two knights, whose faces looked like they had just seen a ghost. And not just that, but they looked as if they were going to be sick.

Finally Arthur’s eyes rested back on where Morgana was standing. Looking back over her shoulder, Morgana slowly backed away from the cloaked figure, finally giving Arthur a clear view of the man he’d been searching for.

Though the hood was down, the man’s face was still hidden from Arthur; his head was hanging down, chin resting against his chest. On top of that, the mess of raven hair on his head was doing a decent job at hiding the features of his face from Arthur’s gaze.

But even so, there was no doubt in Arthur’s mind that it was him – that the person standing before him was the same man they’d been searching for the last three months.

It was Merlin.

By this point, Morgana was a good ten feet away from the manservant, the grin still present on her face, but Arthur acted as if she wasn’t even there. His attention was completely focused on Merlin.

He was torn. On one hand his body was telling him to run forward and shake Merlin out of whatever trance Morgana had put him under. But the other side of him was warning Arthur to stay far away from his long lost manservant, because there was something obviously wrong with him. But Arthur remained right where he was, unable to move his feet either way. After what felt like an eternity, Arthur finally realized that he needed to do something.

Arthur gave a small cough to clear his throat, unaware that it had been so dry up till that point.

“Merlin?” Arthur muttered, hoping that the manservant would respond, that he would show some form of recognition. 

The very moment his name crossed Arthur’s lips, Merlin’s entire body went rigid, but not a word was said. Even from Arthur’s distance, he could see Merlin shaking from underneath the heavy scarlet cloak. He decided to try again.

“Merlin?” He asked again, this time a little louder.

The servant’s head instantly snapped up as his arms snapped out to his sides, his wrists bending backwards and his fingers cringing and bending as if he were in pain. The sudden movement caused the scarlet cloak that had been concealing him, to come sliding off him, falling into a heap on the floor at his feet.

In spite of Merlin’s sudden movements, Arthur’s eyes remained focused on his face. If he hadn’t known the man standing before him so well, it was very possible that he wouldn’t have recognized him.

His face was hollow, almost sunken in, looking like he hadn’t been fed properly in quite some time. And on his cheek was a long pink scare that had not been there before hand. The servant’s raven hair had grown too, it was much more unruly and considerably longer than his usual short cut. 

But his eyes still remained clamped shut, almost as if he were fighting to keep them closed. 

“Merlin.” Arthur repeated again, his voice full of grief at seeing his friend in his current state. It was breaking his heart; this wasn’t Merlin. What on earth did Morgana do to him?

But the sound of Arthur saying his name a third time struck a chord inside of him and the man in front of him couldn’t keep his eyes shut any longer.

At last Merlin’s eyes shot open. 

Gone was the familiar blue eyes Arthur had come to know over their many years together.

Instead, two black orbs replaced them, and they were staring straight at Arthur.


	15. Chapter 15

His entire world had become a massive void of never ending blackness.

To be honest, he had no idea where he was. There were moments when he would try and remember a time before the darkness, but nothing ever came. There was just the black emptiness that filled every crevice of his life.

The blackness and her voice - whispering through the darkness. He never saw her, but she was always there, lurking in the darkness, whispering words that weren’t intended for him hear, but for another, someone else hidden in the shadows – someone else waiting in the darkness.

But the other voice never spoke, never responded to the lady that called out to it, only listening and waiting for when her sweet words would weave their way through the darkness again.

There were times when her voice was absent, but she never left, her presence always hiding out in the darkness, a reminder that he was not alone – never alone. 

But he was. He was so very alone.

He wasn’t sure how long he’d been living in this constant state of nothingness. He was always awake and aware of the darkness that consumed him. He wasn’t even sure if he had a voice of his own. She was the only voice he heard, but he never replied. 

There was no night and no day, just the pitch-blackness.

So when her presence was suddenly absent from the world around him, her whispers no longer there, he couldn’t help but be aware of it. Vanished was the voice in the blackness that had become so familiar to him.

He looked through the darkness all around him, desperate to see if anything else had changed, but he was still surrounded by the same never-ending emptiness.

That’s when he heard it, a far off voice reaching out through the dark. But it wasn’t hers; it was someone else entirely, just a single word. He didn’t know why, but it was like it was speaking to him, calling out to get his attention.

His eyes darted around, searching for the source of the unfamiliar voice in the shadows, the shadows that suddenly didn’t seem as dark as they had been. But there was still nothing.

That’s when he heard it again, this time a little louder than before; he was saying a name, a name that sounded so familiar. He wanted to call out to the stranger in the darkness, to tell the voice that he was there, but words failed him.

As the name weaved its way into his head, flashes of memories began to fill his head, something besides the darkness that he’d become accustomed to. There were shades of blue and green, the reds sticking out from all the rest – such vibrant shades of red with incredibly strong emotions attached to them – such joy and a deep sadness.

He knew the voice, he wasn’t entirely sure how he knew it, but he did, the strange voice now so very familiar. And it was calling out for him.

Then it spoke again, and the realization hit him like a bolt of lightning – it was Arthur calling out to him, trying to reach out to him through the darkness. Calling his name to bring him out the dark world that he’d been ensnared in – the cage he’d been so unwillingly forced into.

He needed to get back to Arthur. He needed to go home.

.  
.  
.

At long last Merlin’s shot eyes open, two black orbs starring directly at the king.

As shocked as Arthur was to see the unnatural change in his manservant, nothing could compare to the reactions of the two older men behind him. Though they were still on the complete opposite side of the room from Merlin, they could still make out the unmistakable black orbs that were fixed directly onto Arthur. 

“No – dear god no, this can’t be possible.” Uther stuttered, his voice shaking as he stumbled over his own words.

The sound of his father’s panicked voice made Arthur turn around, momentarily taking his attention off his friend and manservant.

Arthur had thought that Merlin’s black eyes had taken him by surprise, but the looks of terror on the two older men’s faces spoke volumes. This was something they had seen before.

When the old physicians eyes finally connected with Arthur’s, everything clicked – the pieces of the puzzle falling into place, Arthur’s memory loss and the headaches that followed, everything suddenly made sense. As to why it took him this long to realize what was happening? It was simple, even the idea that this was Morgana’s plan was too horrifying to even consider.

“What have you done Morgana?” Gaius said, his voice trembling. Over the years since his first arrival, Merlin had become something of the son he never had. And seeing that same boy that came strolling into his chambers all those years ago, in his current state was breaking his heart. He wouldn’t wish this fate on his worst enemy, and to it happening to Merlin of all people – it was too much.

Morgana chuckled with amusement. Seeing the look of absolute terror on Uther’s face when Merlin’s black orbs were revealed was more than she could have ever asked for.

During her absence from Camelot, she’d heard whispers of Uther’s declining health, but when she heard that he had willingly stepped down from the throne to let Arthur take his rightful place, well, she simply didn’t believe it. But looking at the man standing before her, she could finally see it. This was not the same Uther who’d raged a relentless and bitter war against all those with magic during the Great Purge and the many years after. She could see the fear in the eyes of the broken man – and it was pathetic. 

But that fear – the fear in the two men’s eyes was simply magnificent. The three younger men around her didn’t hold the same look of fear, but that was only because they had no idea. But Gaius and her father, they knew. They understood what she had done, and she was basking in the absolute glory of it.

Uther was petrified; overwhelmed by the absolute horror of what was standing in front of him. 

“It’s not possible.” Uther stuttered again, trying to wrap his mind around what his eyes were seeing. But he couldn’t make sense of it. 

“But why him? What possible benefit would you have for using him? He doesn’t –“ Uther stopped, unable to say those last few words. He could read Morgana’s knowing look from across the room and it suddenly made sense.

“But he can’t have –“ He stopped again, his voice quaking as the realization hit him. 

How could he have been so blind? For years the boy had been living in Camelot as his son’s personal manservant, and he never saw him for what he truly was. Uther felt like he was going to be sick. How had the boy managed to keep it a secret all that time, living under the roof of his most trusted advisor, working side by side with Gaius for years? 

Uther now turned a shaky head towards the distraught physician. He didn’t want to believe it. He didn’t want to believe that the one man he’d trusted more than anyone else in the world had been not only been harboring a sorcerer inside the city, but had also let the boy tend to Arthur.

“You knew?” Uther stammered, his voice full of the accusation.

Gaius finally took his eyes off the young sorcerer to finally meet Uther’s gaze, but he didn’t need to say anything, because the look on his face answered Uther’s question.

The retired king wanted to be angry; his instincts urging him to yell for the guards, to have them restrain the manservant. Had the boy’s secret come out in the days when he was still king of Camelot, before Morgana’s betrayal, that would have been exactly what he would have done. 

But thoughts of what he would have done or should be doing, well none of that mattered anymore, Morgana’s decision to channel the powers of the High Priestess of Truth changed everything. 

Uther had spent near to three decades attempting to forget the events that took place in the years leading up to the start of the Great Purge, and for the most part he had succeeded. The last time he’d thought of the High Priestesses and the Great Alliance that had formed to fight against them, was the day that Arthur was born – the day Nimueh took Ygraine away from him.

From that day forward, Uther had pushed all memory of the alliance they had once been a part of, his thoughts and actions clouded by the pain of his loss, and the betrayal of a dear friend. In him mind, Nimueh’s treachery had condemned all those with magic.

But standing in the throne room and seeing the practices of the High Priestesses of Truth once again, it changed everything. For over two decades he’d been consumed by his rage and anger at those who saw as responsible for taking his beloved from him, but it was like his head was suddenly clear. His anger towards Nimueh had not vanished, but as memories of the war and the Great Alliance resurfaced, he couldn’t stop the feeling of shame that washed over him.

For many years he had actively sought out and persecuted those who had once been apart of the fight against the Priestesses; the men and women he’d fought side by side with on the field of battle – his friends and allies and the darkest of days.

How could he have been so blind?

Eyes wide, he turned to look back at the boy Merlin. Even from across the room he could recognize the pain and fear shinning out of the black orbs, his body rigid and shaking as he attempted to fight off Morgana’s magical hold on his mind. Uther was stunned that the boy was even managing that. 

The boy standing before him, who had been his son’s faithful manservant for many years, was clearly no friend of Morgana. If he had been, the use of the methods that the Priestesses had perfected would not have been necessary. 

Looking into the boy’s eyes, he say the ghosts of the men and women who had fallen under the power of the Priestesses all those years ago, eyes full of so much pain.

His gaze then shifted over to his son, whose eyes were locked on him, and it was instantly clear to him that Arthur had no idea that his manservant was also a sorcerer.

Uther had seen the way his son had acted during those three months that the boy had been missing. As much as he hated to admit it, his son saw the boy as more than just a manservant, he considered Merlin to be a friend - a friend that had been lying to him for well over five years. 

Arthur silently watched his father’s exchange, aware that there was something that he was still missing – something about Merlin that Gaius had kept hidden from them all, but Arthur couldn’t figure out what it could possibly be, but apparently his father had.

When his father’s eyes finally connected with his, a range of emotions seemed to flash through them, but in the end all Arthur could see was pity - a look of pity that was directed towards him.

“Of course Gaius knew, how could he not?” Morgana said, bring the attention of the room back onto her. 

“Though to be honest, how Merlin had managed to keep it a secret this long is a testament in itself.” Morgana mused, slowly circling around Merlin, but still remaining at a distance.

What secret? It was obvious that his father and Gaius both knew what she was talking about. Quickly looking towards Leon, he saw that the knight looked just as confused as he felt. On the opposite side of the room, Gwaine appeared to be lost in his own thoughts, as if the gears in the knight’s head were putting together the pieces of some unknown puzzle. 

“Well as much fun as this has been, I think it’s time for my little experiment to come to an end.” Morgana sighed.

A sudden gasp from Merlin snapped Arthur’s attention back to the manservant only to see Morgana slowly advancing on him. Without thinking, Arthur rushed forward with his sword raised to try and stop her. Seeing her brother’s quick movement from the corner of her eye, Morgana swiftly threw her hand up, sending the young king flying backwards, directly against the edge of the large wooden round table.

Crashing down to the floor, the next thing Arthur knew was that his father, Gaius, Gwaine, and Leon were all standing over him. The new pain that was shooting through his spine only added to the raging inferno in his head.

“Arthur, are you alright?” Uther asked, now kneeling on the ground next to him.

“I’ll be alright.” Arthur assured them, pulling himself into a sitting position.

“You know, it really is astonishing.” Morgana admitted, examining the man standing in front of her. Arthur sent her a glare from where he was recovering on the floor.

“Just being in your presence Arthur, it has such an incredibly strong effect on him. I haven’t seen him put up this much of a fight against me in months.” She chuckled. “But here he is fighting, with every thing he has left in him, fighting to finally break free.”

Her words made Arthur’s stomach churn. The image of Merlin chained up in that dungeon, all alone for three long months filled his head. Arthur knew that Merlin was never one to give up; even in the darkest of times, Merlin always seemed to be a ray of hope and sunshine. So the thought of him giving up and no longer putting up a fight against Morgana seemed unimaginable. What had Morgana done to the man that caused him to stop fighting?

“After the last three months I’ve spent with my dear Merlin here, I was curious about what would happen if I pulled my influence completely out of his mind.” She continued, walking around him like a beast circling its prey.

“The fact that he was able to fight back at all, to force his eyes open on his own, that in itself is stunning.” She mused. “I know Arthur, Gwaine, and Leon can’t possibly comprehend this, but Gaius and Uther, surely you two can appreciate the significance in this alone.” 

And they did. They’d seen some of the most powerful sorcerers fall under the influence of the Priestesses of Truth, and not a single one of them could fight against the power they had held over them. Morgana was right; the fact that he was able to put up any fight at all was beyond remarkable.

“But then again, our Merlin is quite special isn’t he.” She said, sounding so very proud of the man standing before her.

As Morgana got closer to the manservant, his shaking body seemed to settle, as if her close proximity was putting him at ease.

“After countless months of Morgause teaching me to force my way into her mind, entering the mind of any average person and compelling them to do my bidding, well that was child’s play. But then there’s Merlin, it was well over a month before I could force him to do even the simplest of tasks. I don’t think either of us slept at all that first month. I can’t imagine how long it would have taken if I had not been there with him day and night, working my way into the depths of his mind.” She reminisced, now only a few short steps away from him.

By that point, Merlin had stopped shaking all together, but his eyes and rigid body told a different story. Somewhere deep inside of his body, Merlin was still fighting against her.

“But alas, it’s time for the games to end.” 

Stepping up next to the manservant, Morgana reached out and cupped her hand against the side of his face. The moment her skin made contact with him, his body immediately relaxed as he drew in a deep breath. Finally closing his eyes, Merlin unconsciously leaned into her hand, a look of content spreading across his face.

Just a simple touch and the fight raging on inside of him was gone.

Morgana gently rubbed her thumb against the man’s cheek. Yes, the time for games was over. With a sigh she dropped her hand from his face and turned to face her audience. 

Matching Morgana’s movements, Merlin turned back towards the other men and opened his eyes again. And just like that, any hope that Arthur had that Merlin might break free of Morgana’s control was gone. Up to that point, he could still see the fear and defiance present in his manservant’s eyes, but now they were empty and void of any emotion. The man that stood before them was no longer the Merlin they’d all come to know and love.

“You have two days. Two days to make a choice. You can either run and abandon Camelot, or you can die. The choice is entirely yours.” She said, her face no longer with its signature smirk, but a mask of complete seriousness. 

“Why?” Arthur demanded, “Why even give us a day? You’re already here; why not just take the city now? Why give us a chance to run?”

A small smile played across Morgana’s face at her brother’s words.

“We both know that you’re not going to abandon Camelot. And as for the time I’m giving you? I’m doing it out of kindness. For one thing, even with the entire strength of Camelot at your disposal you won’t be able to stop us.” She paused. 

“And then there’s Merlin.” 

With a loving smile, Morgana looked at Merlin and ran her hand gently down the length of his jaw line.

“Without Camelot’s bravest and most loyal weapon standing at your side my dear brother, all hope for Camelot truly is lost.” 

“MERLIN IS NOT A WEAPON!” Arthur shouted, his rage and anger seeping through as he brought himself back up to full height. Picking up his sword, he pointed it straight at Morgana.

Merlin was many things. He was clumsy, stubborn, and a bit lazy at times. But he was also one of the most loyal men that Arthur knew, and he had one of the kindest hearts. But the one thing that Merlin was not was a weapon.

“Oh but that is were you are so very wrong dear brother.” 

The next thing Arthur knew, Merlin’s arm shot up and reached out towards Arthur. At first he was confused, but before he had time to think, he watched on as Merlin’s black eyes morphed into a striking shade of silver.

The very next moment, Arthur’s sword flew out of his hand as his body was lifted into the air by some unknown force. Before either of his knights could react, they were both thrown backwards and out of the way.

Arthur couldn’t control a single muscle in his body as he slowly floated closer to Morgana and Merlin.

A single horrifying thought consumed him mind and he moved forward, closer to the unfamiliar silver eyes that were locked on him.

Merlin had magic.

The words continued to echo in his mind as he got closer and closer, till finally he was helplessly suspended in the air in front of his sister.

“But before we take our leave, there is one last bit of business that needs to be taken care of.” Reaching up towards Arthur’s face, Morgana wrapped her hands around each side of his temple.

Before he could argue against her unwelcomed hands, the fire in Arthur’s head completely consumed not just his mind, but his entire body. Arthur thought that he had known pain in his life, but nothing could compare to the feeling of indescribable agony that was coursing through his veins at that moment. 

But even through that pain, he was able to hear his sister’s parting words.

“You have two days dear brother. Enjoy your last moments of freedom.” 

And with a flash, Merlin and Morgana vanished into thin air, leaving the young king to come crashing to the floor. 

Arthur had never been so completely and utterly lost.


	16. Chapter 16

All of a sudden the fire that had been consuming his entire body vanished as the king came crashing down to the cold hard floor of the throne room. Though Arthur could hear the distant sound of someone, probably his father, calling his name, he couldn’t make it out over the buzzing that was filling his head. The buzzing that only seemed to get louder as the forgotten memories of the time he spent with Morgana came rushing back to him. 

The memories were so clear in his mind that he found it hard to believe that they’d happened three months ago. But all the details that he had forgotten were suddenly clear as day.

“Arthur!” Uther shouted as he rushed forward. In a matter of seconds Uther, Gaius, Gwaine, and Leon were all at the king’s side.

“Arthur, are you alright?” Gaius asked.

“I’m fine.” He said flatly, shaking his head as the buzzing began to ebb. Arthur was still trying to comprehend what exactly just happened, but even with the return of his memories, one thought continued to override his mind.

Merlin had magic.

But before anything else could be said, the massive wooden doors to the throne room swiftly burst open as a group of knights came stumbling in, all looking red in the face and out of breath. As soon as the group of men regained their footing, they immediately unsheathed their swords.

“Sire?” Sir Percival asked, his eyes darting around the room for whatever threat had trapped the men inside. “Is everyone alright?”

“Yes, we’re quite alright.” Gaius answered with a sigh.

When Percival realized that there was no longer any danger at hand, he promptly put his weapon away and examined the group of men, who were all still kneeled around the king.

“What happened?” Percival asked as he approached them.

But the four men, who were still on the floor, seemed to be at a loss for words, unsure about how to answer the knight’s question. But Leon was too busy inspecting the men who had just entered the room.

“Where’s Elyan?” He asked, noticing that the man was absent from the group. 

“Oh,” Percival said, looking a bit awkward, “He’s currently watching after the lady Guinevere in her chambers.” He explained. Leon nodded in understanding; of course Elyan would want to protect his sister. 

“A group of castle guards said that they thought they saw the Lady Morgana enter the throne room and then proceeded to lock herself inside. When we learned that the five of you were in here with her, we put all of our strength at trying to force our way in.”

When none of the men in front of him said anything, Percival continued hesitantly.

“One of the guards also said that he saw someone else with her. A cloaked figure.” He said, unsure as to why the five men seemed to look uncomfortable at his words.

“The guard said that he believed it to be another sorcerer who was helping her enter the citadel.” Percival paused again and looked towards Arthur. “So, was there another sorcerer working with her?”

Arthur felt his stomach drop when the knight asked the question. How was he supposed to tell the man that indeed there was another sorcerer aiding Morgana, and that the sorcerer was none other than Merlin? The question hung in the air, the king not wanting to admit the truth out loud.

Arthur started to open his mouth to finally answer the knight, but his father promptly cut him off before he had the chance.

“No. There was no other sorcerer. Morgana was acting alone.” Uther explained hastily, a bit surprised by his own actions.

Arthur, Gaius, Leon, and Gwaine immediately turned to the former king, shocked at the words that had just come out of his mouth. But Uther’s words made one thing very clear, for the time being they were going to keep Merlin’s involvement in the events that happened a secret. 

Realizing that his son was a bit overwhelmed by the encounter with Morgana and his former manservant, Uther decided to take control of the situation for the time being.

“Morgana may be gone at the moment, but she will be returning in two days time. Leon and Gwaine,” Uther said, addressing the two knights, “I need you two to fill the rest of the knights in on what happened with Morgana and what her plans are. We only have 48-hours until she returns, and I’m putting the two of you in charge of the necessary preparations.”

With a nod, Leon motioned for the knights to join him at the round table. Gwaine on the other hand bolted out of the room to fetch Elyan and the other knights who weren’t already present. 

“Gaius, I believe we have a lot to discuss.” Uther said to the physician, giving him a knowing look. 

Gaius gave a small nod. “It appears we do, but I would also like to examine Arthur.” He said as he looked to the young king who appeared to be lost in his own thoughts.

Without another word, Gaius and Uther help Arthur to his feet and started making their way towards the physician’s chambers. 

As Arthur let himself be willingly led through the corridors, all he could think about was Merlin, and how he apparently had magic. But Merlin couldn’t be a sorcerer - it wasn’t possible. If Merlin had been a sorcerer he would have known. Sorcerers were cunning, manipulative, and above all else they were evil. Merlin, on the other hand, was the opposite of all those things. Merlin was the most kind-hearted person he knew. Hell, Merlin got uncomfortable when he dragged him along on hunting trips. Merlin couldn’t hurt a fly.

But then a thought struck him – one of the memories that he’d forgotten. Merlin had poisoned Morgana. 

From what Morgana said, it had happened when Morgause first attacked Camelot with her sleeping curse. Morgana had spent that entire day with them as they dragged Uther across the castle to safety. She was helping them. What possible reason could Merlin have for poisoning her then – back when she was still Morgana.

If Merlin was so good and kind, why would he poison her?

When Arthur was finally brought back to reality he realized that he was no longer on the floor of the throne room, but sitting on a bed in the Gaius’ chambers and that the man was examining his head.

“Well besides a bump on the back of his head from where he hit the table, he seems to be in good health.” Gaius mused, backing away from the king.

Uther let out a sigh of relief. “But if he’s fine, then what was it she was doing to him before she disappeared?”

“She was giving me my memories back.” Arthur muttered under his breath, catching the attention of the two older men. 

“While we were still in that dungeon, before she dropped me off in the woods, the last thing she did was take away my memories -” Arthur stopped and rubbed his hand against his temple, “Well not take them away exactly, I think she just hid them away, it was as if she stored them in my mind where I wouldn’t be able reach them.”

“Well that does explain the headaches you’ve been having.” Gaius admitted. “She hid them so that every time your mind tried to reach for them, the pain would flare up in an attempt to steer you away.” Gaius backed up and took a seat on a nearby stool. 

“Arthur – what happened?” Gaius asked, the uncertainty clear in his voice. After everything that had occurred in the last few hours, he needed to know. “Back when you and Merlin were in that dungeon.”

“She was going to kill us.” Arthur confessed, rubbing his head again as he was able to think clearly for the first time in months. 

“She was going to extract Camelot’s battle plans from my mind, torture us, and then kill us. At first I tried to convince her to let Merlin go, that he had nothing to do with her anger towards Camelot, but she just laughed at me.” He said with a small scoff.

Arthur looked up to Gaius to see that the man’s face looked almost identical to what Merlin’s looked like back when they were in the dungeon when he’d asked Morgana to let him go. That one look was all Arthur needed to realize that Gaius knew everything. That he knew about Merlin’s magic and everything else that went along with it.

“Her hatred for him – I don’t think I’ve ever seen an anger that strong in my entire life. And it only seemed to multiply when she realized that she couldn’t force her way into his mind like she had with mine.”

Suddenly Uther jumped up from his seat.

“You taught the boy how to block his mind from magical infiltration?” Uther demanded looking appalled at the idea that the physician would not only discuss the abilities of the Priestesses of Truth, but how to prevent such an attack on one’s mind.

Gaius looked down at the ground as a small smile formed on him face. “I didn’t teach him anything of the sort.” He said looking proud. “Merlin must have done it all on his own.”

“So what you’re saying is that upon realizing what Morgana was doing, the boy somehow managed to put up a makeshift wall to block off his mind from her intrusion? That’s impossible Gaius! With no former training there’s no way that the boy could have managed it.” Uther argued, returning to his seat.

Gaius gave a small laugh. “If anyone could do it, I would put my money on Merlin to be the one who could. The only thing Merlin knew was that there was a way to block one’s mind, but apart from that, I told the boy nothing.” Gaius suspected that Merlin would have done anything to keep his secret from Morgana. He couldn’t help the feeling of pride that came over him; Merlin really was an exceptional individual.

“It didn’t last though.” Arthur said, watching the smile drop from the old physician’s face.

“No, I didn’t think it would.” Gaius said sadly. As much as he wanted to believe that Merlin would’ve been able to fend Morgana off, he knew that without any proper training, there was no way that he could have kept her at bay for long. 

“She was so determined to get into his mind – to figure out how he had managed to ruin all her plans.” Arthur’s voice was empty.

“Yes, I suspect she did.” Gaius said. He couldn’t count just how many times Merlin had managed to foil her plans, it was no wonder that she was so determined to force her way into Merlin’s mind to discover just how he’d managed it.

“Gaius, Morgana said something else, back when we were still in that dungeon.” Arthur began, unsure if he wanted to know that answer to the question he was getting ready to ask, but hesitantly he continued.

“When she’d finally forced her way into his mind, she said that I had no idea just how many times Merlin had willingly walked into deaths arms to save my life. What exactly did she mean by that Gaius?” 

“Arthur,” Gaius sighed, “I’m sorry, but it’s not my place to say.”

Arthur couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “Gaius, I need to know. How many times has Merlin risked his life to save mine?” Arthur asked, sounding almost desperate.

He wanted – no – he needed to know the truth. His own mind was fighting back and forth between the image of the Merlin he had known for the last five years and the sorcerer that had poisoned Morgana and had been lying to him for the entire time they had known each other.

His heart was yelling at him, trying to convince him that Merlin was still the same clumsy manservant that he’d come to consider a friend. But his mind – his mind was repeating to him the only truth he’d ever known about sorcerers, that they were evil and that they weren’t to be trusted. His mind kept telling him that Merlin was a sorcerer and that he not only poisoned Morgana, but that he’d lied to him. Telling him that the Merlin he thought he knew was only a lying, manipulative, and evil sorcerer that didn’t deserve a single ounce of his trust.

But if Merlin were truly evil, why would Morgana say that he had put his life on the line for him? If Merlin was an evil sorcerer, why not just let him die. Arthur had never felt so conflicted in his entire life. Everything he’d ever known about sorcerers was being questioned, and he didn’t like it one bit.

“Arthur,” Gaius said delicately, “it’s not my place. But I will tell you this; Merlin has only ever tried to protect you. In fact, some would say that it’s his destiny to be at your side.” The physician’s words hung heavy in the air.

You know Arthur; the extent of his loyalty for you still amazes me, even after all this time. I now know that he really would die for you in a heartbeat. He would willing give his life for the once and future king.

Morgana’s word from the throne room echoed in his head.

“The once and future king.” Arthur repeated unconsciously, looking straight at Gaius.

The older man gave him a small nod. “Yes, the once and future king.” He said with a small smile.

Memories of all the little moments with Merlin over the years began flashing through his head. Goblets being thrown through the air, being called a clotpole, seeing Merlin in the stocks with a smile still plastered on his face while the city’s children pelted him with rotten fruit; all those insignificant moments running through his mind. Then there were Merlin’s rare moments of wisdom. 

 

“I'm happy to be your servant, till the day I die.” Merlin said sounding wholly serious, any hint of their former joking tone gone from his voice.

Arthur shook his head a little. “Sometimes I think I know you, Merlin. Other times...”

“Well, I know you, and you're a great warrior. One day you'll be a great King.” Merlin finished, his confidence of Arthur so completely unwavering. 

 

That was all it took for Arthur to accept that Merlin was not evil and that he never had any intentions to burn Camelot to the ground. To be honest he’s not sure if he ever believed that last bit, but still. However, it didn’t mean that Arthur was happy and that he completely forgave the manservant either. He was still furious at Merlin for all the secrets and lies, and hopefully one day he’ll know the complete truth, but after their latest encounter Morgana, he wasn’t sure he’d ever get the chance to understand the full extent of what Merlin had done and sacrificed for him over the years.

After a few moments of silence, it was Uther who finally broke it off.

“Gaius,” the former king started tentatively, “just how powerful is the boy?”

Arthur was taken aback by his father’s sudden question.

“WHAT?” Arthur snapped, turning his full attention onto his father. “After everything that has happened today, that’s all you have to say?”

“And what exactly do you want me to say Arthur?” Uther replied sounding exhausted. 

“I want you to yell.” Arthur shouted, standing up in front of the two men. “ I want you to be angry. You just found out that your most trusted advisor has been harboring a sorcerer at the heart of Camelot for five years, and all you have to say is, how powerful is he?” Arthur ranted, finally letting his anger pour out.

“All my life you’ve made me believe that magic is evil and that it corrupts even the purest of hearts.” Arthur said, clearly referring to Uther’s former ward. “For years if there was even a whisper of sorcery, you would do everything in your power to hunt it down and destroy it.” Arthur noticed the look of shame that came over his father’s face, but he continued. 

“So you find out that a sorcerer, even one as incompetent as Merlin, has been living in the Citadel and working as my personal manservant, and you have nothing to say?”

“Fine Arthur.” Uther finally snapped back at him. “You want me to say something, then how’s this? I was wrong.”

Arthur took a step back from his father and his jaw dropped open.

“What?” He stammered, not entirely sure that he’d heard his father correctly.

“You heard me Arthur,” Uther said guiltily, “I was wrong. Not all sorcerers are evil.”

Arthur stumbled back a few more steps and sat himself back down on the bed he’d previously been occupying. For his entire life, the one thing that Arthur could completely rely on to never change was his father’s stance on sorcery. Also, he’d never heard his father admit to being wrong about anything. But in a few short words, he’d managed to prove Arthur wrong on both accounts. How in the hell was he supposed to respond to that?

Arthur turned his attention to Gaius, who looked just about as shocked as he felt.

“Gaius, I’m can’t begin to – I just hope you can one day forgive me for everything –“ But he stopped, feeling completely weighed down by the guilt that was crushing him. How could Gaius ever forgive him for the atrocities he’d caused over the years? To be honest, he wasn’t sure if he’d ever be able to forgive himself for all the lives he’d taken and all the families he had destroyed.

“Sire.” Gaius said, finally getting Uther to glance up and meet his eye. The small smile on the physicians face and the look in his eyes was all Uther needed to realize that Gaius wouldn’t desert him during this dark hour.

Gaius may not have been able to forgive the former king, but seeing this side of him – a side of Uther that he believed had been lost many years ago – was enough to give the man hope. And under the current state of affairs, they needed all the hope they could get. 

After a few moments, Uther cleared his throat. “So, back to the matter at hand.” He said awkwardly. “The boy, we all saw what happened in the throne room. Even if it was just forcing his eyes open, he was still able to fight against her control over his mind. In its self, that should have been impossible. Which leads me back to my original question; just how powerful is he Gaius?” Uther asked again.

“He’s powerful.” Gaius responded, but it was clear to Uther that he wasn’t being completely forthcoming about the extent of the boy’s abilities. 

“Merlin powerful?” Arthur scoffed. “It’s hard enough for me to believe that Merlin is able to perform magic at all, but let’s be honest, this is Merlin we’re talking about. He can barely managed to clean up my chambers without injuring himself in some way or another. There’s no way that Merlin, of all people, is a powerful sorcerer.” Arthur said crossing his arms across his chest.

“Do not underestimate him Arthur.” Uther replied sharply, taking Arthur by surprise. “Merlin being able to open his eyes while under Morgana’s influence may have seemed like a small thing to you, but that alone should have been impossible.” Uther needed Arthur to understand just how serious the situation was.

“The powers that Morgana is harnessing to be able to do what she was doing back there, they’re not something that any average sorcerer can do, even the most powerful sorcerers can’t do it. The Priestesses of Truth were the only ones who were known to be strong enough to harness such powerful magic.

“The Priestesses of Truth? If they were so powerful, how is it I’ve never heard of them before now?” Arthur asked skeptically. 

“Because that’s how the Great Alliance wanted it to be Arthur, because we did everything in our power to wipe every bit of evidence of their existence from the pages of history. We decided that it would be better for the world to forget that they ever existed.” The haunted look on Uther’s face did not escape Arthur’s notice.

“We?” Arthur asked.

Uther took a deep breath before continuing on slowly. “Yes, we. The Great Alliance – an alliance of men and sorcerers, the High Priestesses of the Old Religion and the Great Kings of men joining forces against the High Priestesses of Truth.” 

“Together, lead by the unstoppable duo of Uther Pendragon and Nimueh, the Great Alliance was able finally defeat the Priestesses and restore peace to the realm.” Gaius continued with a look of pride on his face.

Arthur felt like someone just hit him across the face. He could have sworn that he’d just heard Gaius say that his father and Nimueh had joined forces. But there was something in the physician’s voice that led Arthur to believe that they weren’t only an alliance, but that his father and Nimueh had been more than that – that they had been friends.

“Arthur, you saw the kind of control Morgana had over Merlin, yes? Well that’s exactly what the High Priestesses of Truth did, except they would control multiple sorcerers at a time. All we could do was stand by helplessly as we watch some of the most loyal men and women fall victim to them Arthur. In a matter of hours the Priestesses would be able to control and bend the will of even the most powerful of sorcerers, men who’d spent months building walls up in their heads to block the Priestesses from getting in.”

“Suddenly we found ourselves fighting against our allies.” Gaius continued. “But the Priestesses always sought to control the most powerful sorcerers they could find. The more power a sorcerer possessed, the more damage the Priestesses could inflict with them under their control.”

Uther picked up again. “Thankfully, the sorcerers with the most power were able to stay out of the reach of the Priestesses, those like Nimueh. Had they gained control of someone as powerful as her, we wouldn’t have stood a chance against them. With her alone, they could have destroyed us all - all hope would have truly been lost.” Uther sighed heavily. Reminiscing of the Great Alliance and the great things they had accomplished together made Uther’s heart ache for the friendship Nimueh and he had once shared. 

“I just wish I could see Nimueh one more time, to apologize for all that’s happened since then.” Uther thought aloud, finally realizing that his old friend would never have intentionally killed Ygraine. His grief had blinded him for entirely too long.

“I’m sorry sire, but that won’t be possible.” Gaius stammered.

Both Uther and Arthur turned to look at the physician, shocked to see the older man looking grave. After everything that had happened, the look of fear on Gaius’ face only worried both men.

“Why?” Uther asked, dreading what the man would reply with.

“Because she’s dead. She was killed.” Gaius said, his face full of pity for the former king.

Uther’s stomach dropped. Nimueh was dead.

“Killed?” Uther stuttered. “That’s not possible.” Nimueh was the most powerful sorceress he’d ever known. She was not someone who was just killed. Whatever it was that killed her had to be incredibly powerful, more powerful than the sorceress herself.

“What killed her Gaius?” Uther asked, his voice shaking. The thought of a creature with that amount of power troubled Uther.

“Not a what, but a who.” Gaius finally said, not wanting to admit the truth to them, knowing what it would mean for the future of Camelot and the battle they would be faced with in a matter of days. Uther’s words from just moments before along with Morgana’s from the throne room repeated in his head. 

With her alone, they could have destroyed us all - all hope would have truly been lost.

Without Camelot's bravest and most loyal weapon standing at your side my dear brother, all hope for Camelot truly is lost.

And that’s what the truth would do; it would take away all the hope they had for defeating Morgana and saving Camelot. But it needed to be said, the truth of just how dire the situation they were in was. It had to be said.

“It was Merlin.” Gaius finally confessed. “Merlin killed her.”

And with three words, all hope for Camelot truly was lost.


	17. Chapter 17

“It was Merlin.” Gaius finally confessed. “Merlin killed her.”

The former king stared at the aging physician as if he didn’t quite understand what the man had just said.

“Merlin killed Nimueh?” The question hung in the air, and all Gaius could do was nod in confirmation.

“But Gaius, that’s not possible. The boy can’t possibly be that powerful.” Uther argued, not wanting to believe what he was hearing. 

The boy was just a servant, and a rather incompetent one at that. Sure he could at least grasp the concept of him having magic, but the amount of power he would have to possess to not only take on Nimueh, but to defeat her – it was unthinkable. And the fact that the boy – a sorcerer with that amount of power had been living and working inside of Camelot, never leaving his son’s side for years – well Uther was having trouble making sense of the whole situation.

If the boy was truly as powerful as Gaius claimed, then why had he been content working as Arthur’s manservant for all those years? 

“Gaius, does he know just how much power he possesses?” 

Gaius let out a sad sigh at the question as he unconsciously rubbed his palms together.

“Well, yes and no.” He said vaguely. “For the most part Merlin does understand that he has a great amount of power at his disposal, but I don’t think any of us can accurately comprehend the true extent of his magic.”

Something about the way Gaius had carefully worded his sentence struck a chord in Arthur. Something about the way Gaius had said us – it was like Merlin and the magic he possessed were so much more than the secret he’d had been keeping from Arthur for all those years. It was like Merlin and the magic he had were bigger than Camelot itself, the very thought of it sent a shiver down his spine. 

“If there’s is one thing I’m absolutely certain of, it’s that Merlin hasn’t come anywhere close to reaching his true and full potential as of yet.” Gaius said.

Uther and Arthur both looked at Gaius with dumbfounded expressions.

“And to be completely honest, I think that’s the very reason Merlin doesn’t like to talk or think about it much. In a way I think it scares him – having that much untapped power flowing inside of him, that feeling of the weight of the world resting upon his shoulders – it’s a lot for any one person to deal with.” 

Arthur would never admit it out load, but the very idea that Merlin had that much raw power scared him. He couldn’t image what it was like for Merlin, living day in and day out keeping such a massive and deadly secret locked away inside of him. 

“How did it happen?” Uther asked suddenly.

Gaius gave the man a confused look, unsure about what exactly it was he was asking.

“How did he kill her?” He elaborated.

“Oh.” Gaius said. “Sire are you sure you want to know?” 

“Please Gaius. No matter what has happened between Nimueh and me over the years, she was a dear friend and ally once upon a time. I need to know.” He said, his face almost pleading with the physician. 

Gaius nodded again. “Do you remember the questing beast?” He asked glancing over at Arthur.

“How could any of us possibly forget that Gaius?” Arthur asked with a small chuckle. “It’s a miracle I survived that little incident.” Enough time had passed that Arthur felt comfortable joking about his near death experience. It really was a miracle that he’d survived. 

“Not a miracle sire. It’s no secret that there is no cure for a bite from the Questing Beast. You should have died that day Arthur. And if it weren’t for Merlin you would have.” Uther and Arthur continued to look at the physician, silently urging him to continue on. 

“When Merlin realized that you were going to die and that there was nothing his magic could do to save you, he became desperate. So he decided to go to the Isle of the Blessed, in hopes of making a deal with one of the priestesses of the old religion – to exchange his life for yours.”

“And you didn’t try and stop him?” Arthur demanded, shocked that Gaius would let Merlin willingly go off to sacrifice his life.

“Do you really think I would have let him go if I had known that that was his intention Sire?” Gaius snapped back at the king, angry with him for thinking such a thing.

Arthur mumbled a small apology and asked Gaius to continue.

“When he reached the Isle of the Blessed, it was Nimueh who he had to make the deal with – his life for yours. To keep the balance of the old religion, one life must be traded for another. So the deal was made and she gave him the key to saving your life.”

“But?” Arthur asked, knowing that there had to be more to it then that.

“Well Merlin gave you the cure, but he didn’t die. We soon learned that Nimueh changed the agreement and instead of taking Merlin’s life, she decided to take his mother’s instead.”

Arthur’s heart nearly stopped and his stomach rolled. 

“It wasn’t until Hunith, on the edge of death, showed up at my door the next day that we realized what had happened. Distraught and angry at Nimueh’s deception, Merlin planned on returning to the Isle the next day, this time to exchange his life for his mothers.”

“Hold on a second.” Arthur abruptly cut Gaius off and closed his eyes in concentration.

That was it. That was when it happened. When Arthur had finally started recovering after his encounter with the Questing Beast, Merlin had come to him wanting to talk.

 

“Promise me this, if you get another servant, don't get a bootlicker.” Merlin said with a small laugh, trying to mask the more serious undertone of his words.

“If this is you trying to leave your job...” Arthur started, a bit confused as to where his servant was taking the conversation.

“No. I'm happy to be your servant, till the day I die.” Merlin replied, any hint of the joking tone he’d once had completely gone. 

 

He’d had some strange conversations with the manservant over the years, but something about that conversation in particular struck a chord in Arthur. He’d never quite been able to put his finger on what exactly it was about the exchange that felt off to him, but now – now it made complete sense. That was Merlin’s goodbye. 

He’d thought it had just been another one of Merlin’s odd moods that he got into every once in awhile, but apparently it was something else entirely, it was Merlin’s last goodbye before going off to sacrifice himself. The thought of all those off moments with Merlin made him think. How many times had he brushed something off that Merlin had said or done as just another one of his quirks, when in reality there was so much more meaning behind his words.

How long had he been unknowingly turning a blind eye to Merlin’s struggles and suffering? Arthur felt like he was going to be sick.

How could he have been so stupid?

“Sire, are you alright?” Gaius asked worried about what had just come over the king. Not only was his breathing erratic and heavy, but it looked as if Arthur was on the edge of a full on panic attack. 

Arthur looked up, catching the physician’s eye. “Umm I think so.” Arthur swallowed the lump in his throat. “Please continue.”

Gaius gave the king a weary look, but continued on with the story.

“Well, when I realized what Merlin was planning on doing I couldn’t let him go off and sacrifice himself again. So that night I wrote a note for Merlin and set out for the Isle of the Blessed in order to exchange my life for Hunith’s.”

“Gaius.” Uther sighed, shaking his head. Uther knew that the physician was fond of the boy, but this?

“I couldn’t let him do it – not again.” Gaius stuttered. Merlin hadn’t been in Camelot a year when it happened, but in that short period of time, Merlin had somehow become the son he’d never had, and there was no way he was going to let the boy walk back into Nimueh’s clutches. 

“When I arrived I offered my life for Hunith’s and Nimueh accepted. But Merlin being Merlin, he just couldn’t let things be. By the time he arrived it was already too late, I had already - well.” Gaius gave a short cough, still uncomfortable with the fact that he’d actually died that day.

“Well, when Merlin finally arrived she made an attempt to persuade him in joining her, two such powerful creatures of the old religion - together they could rule the world with the amount of power they possessed. But Merlin refused, not wanting anything to do with her and her selfish and cruel ways. In the end, Merlin used his magic to harness the powers of the sky to strike her down where she stood. Her death at Merlin’s hand was what brought me back to life that day.”

“And he made it out completely unscathed?” Uther said incredulously. 

“Well not entirely, Nimueh did manage to hit him with a ball of fire, leaving a rather nasty scar in the center of his chest.” Gaius cringed at the very memory of the injury. “Waiting for that burn to heal in the weeks that followed had been a rather unpleasant experience for both of us.”

“Hold on.” Arthur stopped Gaius again. “If Merlin’s so powerful, why didn’t he just use his magic to heal himself?” He asked confused as to why Merlin would put himself through the pain of waiting for the injury to heal by itself.

Gaius gave a small chuckle. “Merlin may be powerful, but he’s absolutely dreadful when it comes to healing spells. It took him ages before he could even heal the smallest of cuts properly.”

Of course Merlin would be atrocious with healing spells. All-powerful sorcerer who can apparently control the weather and he can’t even heal a measly paper cut. It was so very - Merlin. Arthur couldn’t help the small smile that formed on his lips. 

“So what do we do now?” Uther asked, the grimness in his voice snapping Arthur and Gaius back to reality. “How do we stop her?”

“What exactly is it that she’s doing to Merlin?” Arthur asked. “I understand that she’s controlling his mind, but it’s more than that isn’t it? And since you two clearly have a better understanding of what’s actually going on here, I was hoping one of you could explain.” Arthur said with a hint of annoyance. He was sick of being the only one in the room who didn’t know what was going on.

Gaius and Uther looked at each other wondering who should take the lead. Finally Uther turned to Arthur.

“What Morgana is doing – what the Priestesses of Truth did to their victims – to be able to have that level of control over another living being, one has to completely cut the person off from their true self. When attempting to control someone with no training in how to fight such an attack off, the Priestesses could just hold a persons mind back and out of the way. With Morgana’s control over Merlin, I fear it’s a bit more complicated than that.” Uther looked over to Gaius, to see if he was correct in his assumption. Giving a small nod, Gaius continued.

“Morgana said that it had taken her over a month before she could gain any sort of control over his mind, to be able to force him to do even the simplest of tasks. We saw what happened when Morgana pulled her influence completely from his mind, and like we said before; it was a miracle that he was even able to force his eyes open by himself. The Merlin that we physically saw there today in the throne room was just a shell of a person.” Gaius explained.

“If that wasn’t really Merlin, then where is he?” Arthur asked, the desperation in his voice seeping through. 

“He was there, we actually caught a small glimpse of him when Morgana released her influence over him. To be able to have that kind of control over someone as powerful as Merlin, Morgana would have had to trap the Merlin we know inside of his own mind.” Gaius clarified, giving Arthur a moment to let the information sink in.

“It took a month for Morgana to gain a foothold in his mind, there’s not a doubt in my mind that she used every bit of the last two months trapping Merlin into some far corner of his mind, separating him from any control he had over his thoughts, body, and magic. Using the same technique Merlin had used to keep her out of his mind, Morgana used it to keep him trapped inside. She spent two months constructing a cage – a prison inside of his mind to lock him away in.” 

“Does he realize – does he have any idea what Morgana is making him do?” Arthur asked, horrified by the reality of Merlin’s situation.

“For the most part, no. He probably doesn’t even realize what’s happened to him. Trapped in his mind like that, he may not even know who he is or how long he’s been in there. But I think you were able to reach him Arthur.” 

Arthur looked up to the physician skeptically. 

“When Morgana let go of her hold on him, you spoke to him. It wasn’t until you started calling his name that he started fighting back. Somewhere in the depths of his mind he heard you calling out to him. Morgana herself admitted that he hadn’t fought against her that hard in months. Even if it was just for a moment, you were able to reach him through the darkness of his own mind.” 

A little spark of hope flared to life in Arthur’s chest. It was small, but it was there. If he was able to reach Merlin, to get him fighting against Morgana’s influence on his mind, maybe there was a chance that he could be saved.

That little piece of hope was all Arthur needed, and he was going to latch onto it with everything he had in him. 

“So how do we stop her?” Arthur asked, fresh determination burning inside of him.

“Arthur,” Uther sighed heavily, “I’m sorry but –“

“No.” Arthur interjected. “No. There has to be a way. From everything I’ve heard today, the one thing there seems to be a consensus on is that Merlin seems to have a knack for making the impossible possible. There has to be a way that we can break Morgana’s control over his mind.”

Gaius and Uther shared another look, some silent suggestion passing from his father to the physician. After a short moment Gaius’s face completely fell and the color completely drained from it.

“What is it?” Arthur asked, not oblivious to the silent interaction between the two men.

After a moment his father turned to look at him, a look of resolve clear on his face.

“There is one way to break the connection.”

“No – that is not an option.” Gaius broke in. 

He knew that it would work, but this was Merlin. They couldn’t – he wouldn’t let them even consider it as an option. 

“I’m sorry Gaius but you know it’s true. There’s only one way to ensure that the bond between the two of them is completely broken.”

Before Arthur could ask his father what it was they were talking about, the whole room began to shake, causing bottles from Gaius’ medicine shelves to come crashing down to the floor and his bookcases to come tumbling forward. After a few moments the quaking stopped. 

“The whole of the Citadel must have felt that.” Gaius spoke as he got up to start assessing the damage around his chambers.

“Morgana?” Uther asked, thinking that his daughter may have changed her mind and decided to attack them that day.

The three men looked back and forth between each other, but before any of them could speculate any further, the sounds of screaming in the courtyard reached their ears. As Arthur jumped to move into action, the walls around them started shaking again.

When the room became still once more, Arthur made for the door, but before he could even make it two steps, a thunderous and ground shaking bellow reverberated through the entire castle. The sudden shaking caused Arthur to lose his footing and come crashing down to the floor.

“That is not possible.” Uther stammered as he pulled himself to his feet. It had been years since they’d heard that unmistakable and horrifying sound. 

“Just another thing we can add to today’s list of impossible things that seem to be happening.” Arthur said in annoyance as he attempted to pick himself up off the ground.

“The dragon.” Gaius thought out load, not looking as panicked as the other two men seemed to be.

“But all the dragons are dead, Arthur killed the last one.” Uther reasoned, trying to understand how there could possibly be another dragon – a dragon that appeared to be attacking Camelot at that very moment.

“Wait a minute,” Arthur sputtered, “What do you mean ‘the dragon’?” He asked Gaius.

But Gaius seemed to be lost in his own thoughts, as if something else had taken his attention away from the room.

Another ear splitting roar shook through the castle, followed by more screams coming from across the castle. As if he’d suddenly made up his mind, Gaius quickly made for the door and headed down the corridor towards to courtyard.

“GAIUS!” Arthur shouted. Without a second thought, Arthur unsheathed his sword and went after the man – his father following not far behind.

When the men finally reached the courtyard, the whole place was in complete chaos. As people were running for cover, Arthur could hear the distinct thumping of the dragon’s wings from somewhere out of sight, he assumed the beast was circling the city. From the corner of his eye he saw a small group of knights, including Leon and Gwaine, appear of the top of the main set of stairs leading into the Citadel.

Before he could move to meet up with the men, the beast appeared over the courtyard, its eyes darting around as if it were looking for something or someone in particular. Arthur instantly recognized it as the Great Dragon – the one that he had supposedly killed over three years ago. 

When the dragon finally caught sight of the king it let out another ear shattering roar.

“ARTHUR PENDRAGON!” The dragon bellowed, its words full of pain and fury.

“IT’S TIME WE’VE DISCUSSED THE YOUNG WARLOCK!”


	18. Chapter 18

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it's been such a long time since an update, but I recently moved across the country and things have been a bit crazy. Hopefully I'll be posting chapters more regularly from now on.

Arthur stood at the edge of the frenzied courtyard in complete and utter shock. During his lifetime, Arthur had seen a number of far-fetched things happen and he honestly believed that he had a talent for keeping a level head when faced with unpredictable circumstances. But he couldn’t quite wrap his head around the fact that the Great Dragon, who was supposed to be dead, had not only just spoke to him, but had also addressed him by name – it was inconceivable. 

As the king of Camelot, there were a number of things that Arthur could have and should have said in that moment, but the first thing that came tumbling out of his mouth was a perplexed, “What?”

“IT’S TIME WE’VE DISCUSSED EMRYS ARTHUR PENDRAGON!” The dragon bellowed, causing the ground to shake beneath their feet.

The only way Arthur could describe his mind at that moment was akin to a raging river – his thoughts with the additional flow of new information were completely overwhelming him as he tried to sift through it all. As a result, Arthur wasn’t exactly able to control the words that came out of his mouth next.

“But – but you can talk.” He stuttered stating the obvious. It definitely wasn’t one of Arthur’s finer moments, but what was the ideal reaction for the current situation he found himself in? 

Dragon’s could not talk - and in Arthur’s mind, that was a solid fact. He would never have considered himself an expert on the creatures, but he certainly knew quite a lot about them. From a very young age he’d been fascinated by the dragons of legends, how could he not with his last name being what it was? As soon as he was able to read, he had consumed every book and scroll he could find on them in the court library – soaking up every fact and myth he could get his hands on. But not a single one of them ever hinted or alluded to the possibility that dragons could speak. Hell, he’d never even considered that it was a possibility that they could.

“Gaius.” The Great Dragon growled, a little less forceful than he had been with the king.

Arthur turned to Gaius, even more confused as to why the dragon was now addressing him – and in a much friendlier tone than he’d been given. Gaius’s reaction was another thing that perplexed him. Instead of looking alarmed at the creatures words, Gaius just stared up at the dragon with furrowed eyebrows and a look on his face that made it appear as if he were listening intently to something the beast was saying. But as far as Arthur could tell there were no words being exchanged between the two.

After a few moments Gaius gave the dragon a clear nod of confirmation, as if he were acknowledging some unspoken agreement. Arthur turned back to the dragon in time to see it nodding back to the physician. With a final thundering roar, the dragon gave a single massive thrust of its wings - the force of the gust causing all those in the square to stumble backwards a few steps – and the dragon started its retreat from Camelot. After a few minutes, Arthur could no longer hear the beating of the creature’s immense wings. 

After taking a number of breaths and giving his mind a few moments to clear, Arthur turned to the physician who was still gazing up at the empty space that the dragon had previously been occupying. 

“Gaius?” He asked, every ounce of confusion and shock apparent in his voice.

After a few more moments of silence, Gaius finally turned to the king and said, “He wants to speak with you.”

But Arthur just continued to stare at the man with a bewildered expression. “Yeah, I gathered that much Gaius, but there are a few things that I’m not quite comprehending at the moment. But first and foremost, am I the only one who wasn’t aware that dragons could speak?”

“There were rumors that they could.” Uther said as he stepped up beside his son, “But it was believed that the only ones they would willingly and openly speak to were the Dragonlords.” Uther said as he continued to stare off into the sky in the direction that the dragon retreated in.

“Even during the time of the Great Alliance when Balinor and the dragons stood by our side, even then the dragons never spoke a word. I never believed the legends to be true, but then again I never did ask Balinor.” Uther mused.

Gaius sighed; they didn’t have time for this. “It is true that dragons can speak, and they’re actually quite intelligent creatures– infuriatingly so at times, especially when it comes to Kilgharrah.”

“Kilgharrah?” Arthur gaped. “That thing has a name?” 

“He’s a great and powerful creature of the Old Religion, of course he has a name. And right now he wants to meet with you outside of the city, in the battle field where you last encountered him.”

“Gaius, have you lost your mind?” Uther asked. “The beast will kill Arthur the first chance it gets.” 

“Kilgharrah has no desire to kill or even maim Arthur, but he may have some information that will help us when it comes to fighting Morgana and helping Merlin.” Gaius explained quickly.

“That name. He said that we needed to discuss Emrys. But Morgana - she also mentioned that name.” Arthur said, trying to remember Morgana’s words from just a few hours before. 

 

Yes, the once and future king, the man who the prophecies speak of, foretelling that he will one day unite all lands of Albion with the help of the great and powerful Emrys.

 

“Who is he Gaius? Who is this Emrys?” Arthur asked. What part did this Emrys play in everything that was happening?

Gaius visibly gulped. “Go to Kilgharrah, he will be able to explain it better than I ever could.”

Before anything else could be said, their private conversation was interrupted by the sudden appearance of two of Arthur’s knights.

“What in the bloody hell was that all about?” Gwaine exclaimed as he and Leon came running up to them. 

Eyeing the two newcomers, an idea struck Gaius. 

“In fact, I think it would be best if Gwaine and Leon joined you. Not so much for protection, but Kilgharrah has a history of being notoriously cryptic when it comes to giving information or advice, so it might be prudent to bring them along as an extra set of ears.”

“Wait, your not actually suggesting that Arthur go an meet the creature are you?” Leon implored, looking at the physician as if he’d lost his mind.

“That’s exactly what I’m suggesting Sir Leon. Kilgharrah may have the information we need to help stop Morgana and save him.” Gaius stressed the last word as he glanced around to make sure no one else was listening in on their conversation. “Besides, I believe he will also be able to shed light on a number of other things that will be of interest to you Arthur.” 

“You speak as if you know the beast Gaius.” Uther insinuated as he studied his long trusted advisor. Unable to find words, Gaius diverted his eyes from the men and began rubbing his hands together in front of him.

“You do don’t you? You know the dragon.” Arthur declared when Gaius didn’t reply to his father’s remark. 

“Yes,” Gaius confessed, “but none of that is important right now. Kilgharrah may have the key to saving Merlin, and it’s imperative that the three of you ride out to meet him before he decides to change his mind.” Gaius retorted. 

Arthur was torn. One side of him was urging him to stay in Camelot, that he was the king and the city needed him present to assist in the preparations for Morgana’s return. But then there was that nagging flame of hope burning deep inside of him, urging him to go to the dragon and hear what it had to say – telling him to do what ever it takes if it meant that Merlin could be saved from Morgana’s clutches.

“Fine, I’ll go meet the damned beast.” He finally grunted in frustration. 

Gwaine stepped to Arthur’s side and clapped him across the back. “Brilliant, I’ve always wanted to meet a living-breathing dragon.” 

In a matter of minutes, the three men had saddled up their mounts and were galloping at full speed out of the city gates. 

“So you two have encountered this dragon before?” Gwaine asked as they rode through the densely wooded area.

“Yes we have, if I remember correctly it was a little over three years ago now. Apparently the beast had been imprisoned in a cavern in the very depths of the city. Everyone had believed that the last of the dragons had been killed long ago, but little did we know there was one living beneath our feet for over twenty years.” Leon elaborated, remembering that Gwaine hadn’t been around during the disastrous event.

“The very same day the city had been under an attack from the sorceress Morgause, who had put the entire city under a sleeping curse. No one’s sure how it happened, but by some miracle the curse was broken and Morgause’s army retreated, but not before Morgause took the lady Morgana with her.” He continued, enjoying the captivated look on the other knight’s face.

“Anyways, just as the city was beginning to calm down later that night, someone had decided to release the dragon from it captivity. For three nights the beast rained hellfire down upon the city, destroying anything and everything in its path. It didn’t take long for us to realize that our weapons were useless against the creature. So on the third morning, Arthur and Merlin set out to find someone who could help – they went searching for the last Dragonlord.”

“You went searching for Balinor?” Gwaine asked, thoroughly engrossed in Leon’s retelling of the events he’d missed out on.

Leon and Arthur both looked back at Gwaine, shocked that the younger knight already knew the man Leon spoke of.

“You’ve heard of Balinor?” Arthur asked, confused by how the man could possibly know the name of the man.

“You lot always forget that I’ve spent the majority of my life in the lands outside of Camelot’s control – lands where the practice of magic is not punishable by death.” Gwaine said with an amused smile upon his face. “Also, if you spend enough time in various taverns, you’re bound to hear every rumor and legend that the land has to offer.” 

Arthur and Leon looked at each other, unsure whether they should be impressed by Gwaine’s range of knowledge or if they should be unsurprised by how he acquired it. With a shrug from Leon, they turned back to the other knight.

“So yes, I’ve heard and learned quite a bit in regards to Balinor and about the history of the legendary Dragonlords.” Gwaine said with a laugh. “So did you actually manage to find him?”

“Yes we found him and managed to convince him to help. Unfortunately, we were attacked by a band of Cenred’s men before we made it back to Camelot’s borders and Balinor was killed.” Arthur said turning away from the two men, the memory of that day clear in his mind. 

He could remember how every ounce of hope he had drained out of him the moment he saw Balinor laying dead on the forest floor. Even more so, he could remember how upset Merlin had been over the man’s death. Arthur had also been upset that the man had died, but he never quite understood why it had affected Merlin in the way that it did.

“Wait – so if Balinor died, how did you stop the dragon?” Gwaine asked, wanting Leon to finish the story.

“Well that night, we rode out to meet the dragon head on. It was there that Arthur dealt the beast a fatal blow, but not before it had killed the rest of the knights that went with us. In the end, Arthur, Merlin, and I were the only ones to walk away with our lives.” Leon finished.

“That’s all well and good, but it appears that ‘fatal blow’ wasn’t so fatal.” Gwaine chuckled. The three men proceeded to ride in silence the rest of the way to their destination.

After another ten minutes, Arthur finally spotted the break in the woods that lead to the clearing in the distance.

“We should probably stop here and enter the clearing on foot.” Arthur suggested, feeling his stomach begin to turn to knots. The last time he had dealt with the beast, it had been attempting to burn the entire city to the ground, taking all the citizens of Camelot with it. So many of his men had died that day, men that he’d trained side-by-side with since he was a boy, men that had died protecting the city they loved.

Thinking about the destruction the dragon had caused only seemed to create a mixture of anger and fear to bubble up inside of him. 

“So what do you think the dragon wants to discuss with you?” Gwaine asked as they neared the entrance to the clearing.

Arthur pondered the question, not entirely sure what information the dragon could possibly have that would be helpful to them in the current situation. And why did it decide to show up at this moment? What reason could it possible have for coming out of hiding at the same time Morgana decided to make her threat against Camelot? Thankfully, he wouldn’t have to wait long for answers to his questions.

As soon as the three men stepped out of the shadow of the tree line, they instantly recognized the hollow thumping sound of the dragon’s beating wings not far off. In a matter of seconds the Great Dragon appeared over the clearing. When the beast finally landed, the whole ground shook beneath their feet from the sheer mass of the creature.

“Arthur Pendragon, I thought it was time for the two of us to properly meet – a meeting that has been a long time coming.” The dragon observed casually, it’s voice no longer full of the anger it possessed back in Camelot.

“I’m sorry, but I was unaware that we were suppose to meet at all, because the last time I checked, you were supposed to be dead.” Arthur replied with venom. To his surprise, the dragon merely chuckled at the offhand comment.

“That is true. I can now see why my sudden appearance might have been a bit alarming. But as you can see, I am very much alive.” Kilgharrah said in an amused tone as he spread out his wings as if he where presenting himself before the three men.

“Clearly.” Arthur sneered, already frustrated by the creature. “I’m assuming you called me here for an actual reason.”

While Arthur talked openly with the dragon, Gwaine looked on curiously. Leon on the other hand looked uncomfortable standing before the beast, becoming even more uncomfortable when Arthur began speaking to the beast in such a cavalier tone.

“Yes, I suppose we should discuss the matter at hand.” The dragon admitted, his voice returning to a more serious tone. “To be honest, I was hoping you could shed some light on what has happened to the boy Merlin.”

“What interest could you possibly have in the current state of my manservant?” Arthur inquired, his voice becoming defensive as the topic suddenly shifted to Merlin. The dragon analyzed the young king standing before him.

“In fact, I have quite a large interest in what happens to boy. And we both know that our mutual friend is so much more than a manservant, don’t we Arthur?” Kilgharrah responded with a hint of amusement in his tone.

“You know Merlin?” Arthur hissed. A sense of betrayal suddenly washed over him. “You know that he’s a sorcerer.” He stated, his tone flat at the realization that this dragon may just know more about Merlin then he ever did.

“Certainly, I’ve come to know the young warlock quite well since he first arrived in Camelot all those years ago. It was during his first night in the city that we first met.” Kilgharrah mused.

Arthur felt his thoughts spiraling out of control. Merlin had known all along, he’d known about the dragon that locked away in the depths of Camelot. And not only that, but from what he gathered, Merlin had gone to see the dragon on more than one occasion - well at least until it was mysteriously released. 

Arthur’s heart sank at the thought.  
No. It can’t be. Merlin would never - 

“Excuse me, Great Dragon? If you don’t mind me asking, why did you call Merlin a warlock? I thought he was a sorcerer.” Gwaine asked, stepping forward without hesitation.

“I call him a warlock because that is what he is. The Merlin we all know is no mere sorcerer. I’m not sure how you three learned of his secret or how much you know about what he has done and is still destined to do, but let me tell you this: Merlin’s role in the events that are to come and in shaping the future of Camelot itself is a crucial one. So tell me, what has become of my Dragonlord?”


	19. Chapter 19

“So tell me, what has become of my Dragonlord?” Kilgharrah demanded.

From everything that had happened that day, Arthur thought he had exceeded his capacity for being taken by surprise, but apparently he was wrong because somehow the revelations just kept coming – each one like a knife in the chest. Each one was just another reminder at how little he actually knew the man that he had come to consider his closest friend. 

What equally struck Arthur was the dragon’s mention of destiny - what Merlin was destined to do and his role in shaping the future of Camelot. The words dug deep into the depths of his gut, the importance of them weighing down on him.

Leon stepped forward. “Excuse me, but I thought Balinor was the last of the Dragonlords.” He inquired, speaking in front of the dragon for the first time – his curiosity momentarily overpowering his discomfort. 

“Yes, Balinor was the last Dragonlord, but then he died.” Kilgharrah explained. “And now that title and responsibility rests with Merlin.” 

While Arthur and Leon were lost in their own thoughts, Gwaine’s heart sank as all the threads of information came together in his head. It was obvious to him that the other two men knew very little about the myths and lore that surrounded the Dragonlords, because if they had, the connection made from the beast’s words would have been clear as day. But Gwaine could see it in their faces - they had no idea.

Gwaine gulped. “It wasn’t Arthur that stopped you from destroying Camelot was it? It was Merlin.”

Kilgharrah’s eyes connected with the knight’s. The dragon gave a small nod as an unspoken understanding passed between the two. The look was all that was needed to confirm Gwaine’s suspicions. 

“If Merlin had the power to stop you, why did he wait till you had already set fire to the majority of the city to do it?” Arthur fumed, furious that Merlin would allow the dragon’s rampage to go on as long as it did. Did Merlin think his secret was more important than the lives of all the good men and women they had lost that day?

“He couldn’t.” Gwaine sighed, trying to keep his voice steady. “It wasn’t until Balinor died that Merlin could harness the powers of the Dragonlords.”

“It was a power he wasn’t aware that he could even possess until he and Arthur met Balinor that day.” The dragon said, giving Gwaine another pointed look. 

If it was even possible, Gwaine’s heart broke even more for his dearest friend. Unlike the other two men in the company, the dragon didn’t need to spell it out for him. Merlin had never known his father and when he finally got the chance to meet him, it was only to watch him die shortly after. He couldn’t imagine the pain that Merlin had gone through – a pain that he suffered through alone because he couldn’t tell those closest to him that he watched Balinor die before his very eyes - that there was nothing he could do to save the man that he’d just discovered was his father.

“So that’s how you knew Merlin was in trouble, it’s because he’s a Dragonlord.” Leon pondered out loud, his initial uneasiness slowly fading.

“Indeed. The bond between a dragon and a Dragonlord is unlike anything else on this earth – a deep connection that cannot be broken. Three months have passed since I last felt that connection with the young warlock. I was leagues away when I suddenly heard the warlock calling out for help, saying that your lives were in danger.” Kilgharrah said, his eyes meeting Arthur’s.

“Unfortunately, before I could get anywhere near his location, Merlin’s pleas for help turned silent. No matter how hard I tried to call out to him, he never replied. For months I’ve heard nothing from him, but I’ve remained nearby in hopes that he may call out again – and finally he did.”

“How did you know he was in trouble? What did he say to you?” Arthur asked, unsure of how much the dragon knew about Merlin’s condition.

“Well he didn’t need to say much for me to know that something was wrong.” Kilgharrah said looking troubled. “I’ve come to know Merlin fairly well over the years – our minds being linked as they are. The very second our minds connected I knew that something was very wrong with him.”

“But how?” Arthur asked, curious and needing more information.

The dragon paused as he contemplated how he could convey what he experienced when he finally reconnected with Merlin for that brief moment. 

“Imagine Merlin as a light. Imagine him as that brightness that is there even in the darkest of times – always shinning and full of hope.”

But Arthur didn’t need to imagine, because that’s how he already saw him. Merlin was that constant flame of hope and optimism in his life. It wasn’t until that flame was suddenly ripped away from him that he realized just how much he relied on it.

“That lightness in Merlin is an unwavering presence through our connection. It was there even when he was calling out for help all those months ago. But when he called out today, any remnant of that light was gone. As soon as the link between the two of us was open, I became overwhelmed by the darkness that came rushing in. Through the dark I was able to see every faucet that made up the blackness that has completely consumed everything that had made Merlin the person he’d once been – the hopefulness, joy, and love were replaced by a deep fear, loneliness, anguish, and sorrow. And through all the emotions came a single word.”

“What was it?” Arthur asked hesitantly, unsure if he wanted to know the answer.

“It was your name Arthur. It was you and you alone that he was calling out to in the darkness.”

Arthur may have been the king of Camelot, but he’d never felt smaller than he had in that very moment. He couldn’t stop the feeling from enveloping him - that everything that had happened to Merlin was entirely his fault.

“So I’ll ask again – what has happened to Merlin?” Kilgharrah asked looking straight at Arthur.

“It’s uh-“ Arthur swallowed “it’s Morgana. She uh – has taken control of his mind using the powers of the Priestesses of Truth.”

The growl from the dragon’s chest suddenly erupted into a deafening roar as he threw back his head – the force of which shook the entire forest surrounding the clearing.

Every instinct in Arthur was urging to run from the clearing and put as much space between himself and the angry dragon as physically possible, but instead he continued to stand his ground at the dragon’s feet, refusing to look away.

“This cannot be possible.” The dragon growled out when the clearing finally quieted down again.

“I’m afraid it is. That is what she has been doing with him these last three months, bending and working her way into the depths of his mind.” Arthur explain, his voice finally regaining some of its kingly authority. 

“If she has control over his mind, then how was he able to connect with me?” Kilgharrah asked, trying to comprehend how this could have possibly happened.

“It must have been when she pulled out of his mind.” Gwaine spoke up. “It was only for a brief moment, but that has to be when it happened.”

The dragon’s eyes narrowed. “Tell me – what physically happened when she did that?”

“She said that she was curious about something and then she stepped away from him, probably a good ten to fifteen feet away. When Arthur called out Merlin’s name, he went rigid and his entire body started shaking.” A shiver went down Gwaine’s spine as he remembered the terrifying incident that had happened only a few hours before.

“When Arthur said his name again, Merlin’s head jerked up and his arms flew to his sides. Even from across the room I could tell that whatever pain he was experiencing was excruciating. It wasn’t until Arthur said his name a third time that his eye snapped open.” Gwaine gulped. “But his eyes, well they weren’t his eyes anymore. They were completely black.”

While everyone else felt discouraged after Gwaine’s retelling of the events, the dragon suddenly looked hopeful.

“And when all appears to be lost, there remains an ounce of hope shining through darkness.” The dragon said with a small and encouraging laugh. “Even in his darkest moment, you were able to get through to him Arthur.”

All Arthur wanted to do was grasp onto the dragon’s confidence and run with it. He became overwhelmed with the possibility that the Merlin he once knew may return to him. Things would be different between the two of them, but he would have his Merlin back. Also, they would need to have a lengthy discussion concerning Merlin’s magnificent ability to lie straight to his face, but there was not a single doubt in Arthur’s head that they would be able to work things out. No more secrets and no more lies - Arthur would have his friend back, and Merlin would no longer have to hide who he truly was. 

But there still remained a mass of doubt within him – telling him not to get his hopes up.

“But Morgana was able to easily regain control over his mind.” Arthur said. “What hope could there possibly be?”

“Every hope in the world.” Kilgharrah said in an attempt to reassure the young king. “Just imagine if you were able to speak with him up close and away from Morgana’s influence. There’s every chance that you may just be able to completely free him from her control.”

The small flame of hope inside of Arthur began to slowly grow with every word the dragon spoke.

“But remember Arthur, it can’t be anyone else. Only you can break Morgana’s enchantment on him mind.” The dragon said seriously as he leaned in closer to the men.

“Me?” Arthur stammered. “But what about Gaius, couldn’t he do it?” Arthur began to panic as he started to realize the sheer size of the task set before him.

“It has to be you Arthur. The connection that the two of you share in unparalleled to anything this world has ever seen before. The two of you know each other better than you know yourselves – you truly are two sides of the same coin.”

“BUT I KNOW NOTHING ABOUT HIM!” Arthur shouted, the feelings of betrayal and anger once again rising up inside of him. “I mean - I thought I knew who he was, but come to find out I never really did. It was all just a lie.” Arthur said with a shaky voice, embarrassed by his unanticipated outburst. 

The dragon let out a frustrated sigh. “Arthur Pendragon, you finding out the young warlock’s secret has not changed who Merlin is – he still the same person he has always been. The only thing that has changed is your perception of him. And I promise you this, your view of him will continue to change as you continue to discover and learn all the things Merlin has done and sacrificed for you and the good of Camelot.”

What was supposed to make Arthur feel better only managed to make him feel that much worse. From what Gaius had told him, he’d already realized that Merlin had done many things in the name of him and Camelot. He also knew that Merlin been willing to sacrifice his own life for Arthur, but what else had Merlin sacrificed for him – what else had Merlin lost.

Arthur had always thought that Merlin was the bravest man he’d ever met, and it was that thought that scared him the most and that made him wonder – did he really want to know the full of extent of Merlin’s loyalty and what it had cost him as a result.

A crisp breeze swept through the clearing, washing over Arthur’s body and causing Gwaine’s hair whip across his face. Arthur’s mind had been cluttered and weighed down by the events of the day, but the sudden burst of cool wind twisting and gusting around him was like a breath of fresh air – clearing his mind and allowing him to think clearly for the first time in months. 

Pulling back his sleeve, Arthur gazed down at the red neckerchief that had made its home around the wrist of his sword hand. A smile grew on the king’s face as he rubbed the worn red fabric in between his fingers.

When the gust finally past through and Gwaine had cleared his hair from his face, Arthur straightened himself as he stood before the dragon and two of his most trusted knights.

“So Kilgharrah,” Arthur started, using the dragon’s name for the first time, “What do I need to do?” The sudden change that came over the king was evident to everyone else in the small group. Arthur’s confidence in the dragon was all Gwaine and Leon needed to be on board with whatever plan they would come up with.

The dragon gave the men a toothy grin. “Well the first thing you must do if you wish to be successful is you need to separate Merlin from Morgana. Once you manage that, all you need to do is talk with him – to remind him of who he is, because right now he’s lost that part of him. Trapped in the darkness of his own mind, he’s lost any resemblance of who he once was - you must remind him of that Arthur. If he is able to remember who he is, then you’ll be giving him the strength and power he needs to fight his way back to the light – back to you and everyone else in Camelot that he cares for so deeply.”

Arthur nodded as the dragon explained what needed to be done, content with the thought that he might just be able to save Merlin – that after three long and agonizing months, he might finally has his friend returned safely to his side.

“I won’t be far off. I will know the instant Merlin finally starts to regain some semblance of control over his mind, and when he does I will come to you to aid Camelot in any way that I can – fore that battle that approaches will be one that will not soon be forgotten.”

As the dragon spoke, a thought occurred to Arthur – something his father had mentioned earlier that day in the physicians chambers. 

“I’m curious though, earlier today my father mentioned that there may be another way to break Morgana’s control over Merlin, and well -I was wondering if you might –“

“NO!” The dragon bellowed, cutting Arthur off mid sentence, taking Arthur and his two knights by complete surprise. “What ever your father may or may not have been suggesting is not an option.” He snapped, his words with a sense of finality to them. And Arthur knew that the topic was no longer up for discussion. 

Try as he might, Arthur couldn’t figure out what would be so terrible that both Kilgharrah and Gaius would refuse to even acknowledge it as an option.

“Arthur, you must understand, it is absolutely vital that you succeed in restoring Merlin to his right mind.” The dragon implored. “The events that occurred today were never supposed to happen – the threads of fate are falling apart and your destinies are changing.” A sense of importance and fear were clear in the dragon’s voice as he spoke to him.

“We must do everything in our power to fix what has been broken – to put both you and Merlin back on the paths you were always meant to take. As a result of what has happened with Morgana’s interference, your futures have become distorted and blurred – no longer clear to myself and the other great powers of the Old Religion. If we fail in our mission and Merlin remains under Morgana’s influence, there’s no telling what consequences may come – the future of the Albion that you and Merlin were destined to create, may very well suffer as a result.”

Arthur looked up at the dragon, the enormity of their task bearing down upon him. All the talk of destiny and fate – could his and Merlin’s roles in the future or Camelot really be as essential as Kilgharrah was leading him to believe – and how long had Merlin been silently carrying this massive burden all by himself?

“It is up to you Arthur. The threads of destiny itself are unraveling and you, and you alone, can fix what has gone so terribly wrong.”


	20. Chapter 20

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Arthur, Leon, and Gwaine discuss their next move and a familiar face returns.

"It is up to you Arthur. The threads of destiny are unraveling and you, and you alone, can fix what has gone so terribly wrong."

With those final words Kilgharrah gave a massive thrust of his wings and took off into the sky, which had transformed into a deep purple as the sun began to sink into the horizon. The day that felt like it would never end was finally coming to a close – leaving the young king with a full mind and a heavy heart. 

As the dragon flew further into the darkening sky, his finals words still rang in Arthur’s ear and when the beating of Kilgharrah’s wings finally faded, the familiar sounds of the night slowly materialized in the woods all around them. 

“I think we should make camp for the night.” Arthur suggested out of the silence. 

Leon turned towards Arthur, who was still gazing into the evening sky. “Are you sure that’s a good idea sire?”

The king closed his eyes and took a deep breath, feeling his heart slowly pounding in his chest. He knew that they should return to Camelot to help with the preparations for Morgana’s coming attack, but part of him wanted to take the night to mentally process everything that had occurred over the last twenty-four hours. 

The citizens and his knights back in Camelot needed their king to be strong and confident in every decision he would need to make in the coming days, and in his current state he wasn’t sure if he would be able to do either of those things.

“I believe it may just be the best thing we can do right now. We may know what we need to do to save Merlin and stop Morgana, but I honestly have no idea how we’re going to do it. I was hoping we could come up with some sort of plan before we return to Camelot at first light.”

Getting Merlin away from Morgana was a problem in itself, but Arthur had no idea what he could possibly do or say to his former manservant to completely free him from her control.

“I think Arthur is right.” Gwaine admitted. “We can’t go back empty-handed, we need some kind of plan.” Arthur gave Gwaine a small smile, hoping it would convey his gratitude.

Leon gave a small nod, understanding their reasoning behind not wanting to return just yet. “In that case, I suggest we return to where we left the horses and make camp there.”

By the time the men had returned to their horses and made a fire, the first stars started to become visible through the patchy treetops above their campsite.

Exhaling a deep breath, Arthur relaxed into the folded up cloak beneath his head, his ragged nerves starting to settle down from the day’s events.

Closing his eyes and leaning against one of the large trees, Arthur could almost convince himself that things were different – that Merlin was only a few feet away tending to the fire, joking around with the knights while he made them a simple stew for dinner. And while Arthur hated to admit it, Merlin’s stews weren’t half bad. They were one of those small comforts that Arthur was always grateful for on long journeys. 

Even if it were only for a moment, just thinking about how simple and carefree things used to be those many months ago put a smile on Arthur’s face. But the silence in the woods around him was just another reminder of Merlin’s continued absence. 

At the thought of a warm meal, Arthur’s felt the sharp ache in his stomach – a reminder that he hadn’t eaten anything since breakfast earlier that morning. With everything that had happened, food had been the last thing on Arthur’s mind. 

Hesitantly, Leon broke the silence. “So, I guess we need a plan.”

Being torn away from the moment, Arthur opened his eyes. As much as he wanted to spend the night thinking over things and getting his own head straight, Arthur knew that creating some kind of plan of attack was more important if they wanted to survive.

“That we do.” Arthur agreed. “Do either of you have any suggestions?”

Both men were silent for a few moments before Gwaine finally spoke up.

“Honestly the only thing I think will work is if we knock Morgana out. If we’re able to do that, it may just release her control over Merlin long enough for you to get to him.”

Arthur was a little taken back by how solid and simple the man’s suggestion was, and judging by the look on Leon’s face, he was just as surprised as he was.

“That’s actually a really good idea.” Leon admitted, the gears in his head already working at the thought.

“For Morgana to have complete control of Merlin like she does, there’s no way she can be completely focused on herself.” Arthur continued, rolling with the train of thought.

“And if we can distract her long enough, we might just be able to take her by surprise!” Leon finished, getting excited that they may just have the start of a plan, that they may just having a fighting chance. 

“Morgana knows how important Merlin is to each of us, and even with everything that has happened, she’ll never expect us to go straight for him.” 

Seeing concerned looks at his knight’s faces, Arthur was about to continue, but before he could get another word in, the sharp sound of a branch snapping came through the darkness behind him.

In a single rolling motion, Arthur was off the ground and on his feet with his sword in hand. With a quick glace behind him, it appeared the two knights had made similar moves and were slowly making their way to Arthur’s side.

Focusing back on the darkness, Arthur raised his sword. “This will be your only warning – show yourself.” 

Besides the sound of their shallow breaths and the crackling fire, there was no reply. Moments before the men were about to make a move, the sound of footsteps coming through the woods stopped them. The shadowy form of a man with his hands half raised slowly walked towards them out of the darkness.

“I just thought you lot might be a bit hungry.” A familiar voice called out to them. Lancelot slowly made his way out of the woods and into the light of their campfire with a bag in his hand.

“Lancelot?” Arthur let out a sigh of relief as he lowered his sword to the ground. “What in the hell are you doing here? We weren’t expecting you back for at least a few more weeks.”

Lancelot dropped his hands to his sides. “Well, when Camelot is being attacked by a dragon, it doesn’t take long for news to travel.” With a small laugh Lancelot tossed his bag of game to Leon.

“Don’t lie Lancelot, we all know you came back because you missed us.” Gwaine said as he stepped forward catching the man in a one armed hug.

“You wish.” Lancelot replied, giving Gwaine a friendly shove. 

“Seriously though,” Arthur said sheathing his weapon, “How on earth did you get back here so quickly? You couldn’t have been too far away.”

“I wasn’t. I was visiting an umm” Lancelot gave a small cough, stumbling on his words, “a close friend nearby when a man came riding through town shouting nonsense about a massive dragon attacking Camelot.” He explained, rubbing a hand over the back of his head. “And well, I couldn’t let you guys have all the fun.”

Prior to the knight emerging from the woods, Arthur had completely forgotten about Lancelot’s absence, but now that he was there, he wished that Lancelot had stayed away.

Everyone who had known Merlin had been affected by his disappearance, but the servant’s absence had hit Lancelot particularly hard. 

As the weeks passed, Lancelot became more distant and less like his usual self. It wasn’t until Lancelot approached Arthur after his coronation to ask for time away that the newly crowned king could see the dark circles under the knight’s eyes. Arthur didn’t hesitate in giving the knight the time off he so desperately needed. 

The newly returned knight hadn’t necessarily been lying when he said that he’d been visiting a close friend, he’d just left out that the close friend just happened to be Merlin’s mother.

When Merlin had disappeared all those months ago, Lancelot had been part of the small group of knights that had traveled with Arthur to Ealdor to tell Hunith what had happened to her only son. To say the woman was devastated would have been an understatement.

Ever since his departure from Camelot, Lancelot made a point to visit the grieving mother as often as possible. Since Merlin’s disappearance, Arthur made sure to send Hunith a bit of coin on a regular basis, to take the place of what Merlin had once sent her out of his weekly pay. Lancelot knew about the money she was receiving from the king, but he still showed up on her doorstep each week with a bag of freshly caught game in his hand and a reassuring smile on his face.

Most of the time they would talk about what each of them had been doing since their last visit, but the conversation would always inevitably turn to Merlin. Since Lancelot knew of Merlin’s magic, he was one of the only people in the world Hunith felt completely comfortable talking to about Merlin.

Most of the time they would talk about Merlin’s childhood and what a struggle it was raising him before he’d had any control over his magic. There were other times when she’d tell Lancelot how’d she had worried for his life every day since he’d left for Camelot; about how she always feared the day someone would turn up at her door to tell her that Merlin had been burned at the stake for being a sorcerer, or that he’d died on some battlefield fighting beside Arthur.

No matter how dark their conversations would turn, Lancelot always felt a bit lighter and more at ease by the time their visits would come to an end.

It had been during one of those weekly visits that a man on horseback came riding through the small village shouting about a dragon attacking Camelot. Hunith had been more than understanding when he said they’d have to cut their visit short. With a small smile, Hunith handed him back the small back of game he’d brought her and saw him off.

After a few hours of riding it had finally turned dark, and that’s how Lancelot spotted the small fire the knights had built in the woods. However, he was more than surprised to see who had surrounded the small blaze.

“I have to be honest though, when I’d heard there was a dragon attacking Camelot, I didn’t expect to find you lot hiding here in the woods.” Lancelot said with a laugh as he sat himself down up against a tree near the fire.

Arthur, Gwaine, and Leon looked back and forth between each other, unsure of how much they should tell their fellow knight about what really happened with Morgana, Merlin, and the Great Dragon. 

Their uneasy looks lasted only a few seconds, but it was long enough for Lancelot to realize that something was off with the men.

“Alright, what are you three not telling me?” Lancelot asked as he leaned forward into the light of the flame. “Obviously there was a dragon or you would have said something by now, but it’s more than just that isn’t it?” He eyed the men closely, looking for any clues in their reactions.

Lancelot knew these men well enough to know how each of them reacted to various situations. From what he could gather, they were clearly in some sort of danger, but something about the looks on their faces told him that whatever enemy they were facing, it was personal.

Lancelot’s heart dropped and a deep-set anger grew in his chest. It could only be one person.

“It’s Morgana.” He said, his voice growing deeper. “She’s come back.” Lancelot didn’t need to ask the other men for confirmation; he could see the truth of his statement in their faces. 

Morgana had returned.


	21. Chapter 21

“What happened?” Lancelot demanded, keeping his eyes focused solely on Arthur.

Arthur wanted to tell the knight everything that had happened since everything went to hell earlier that morning, but the man was a ticking time bomb and Arthur wasn’t entirely sure how he’d react when he learned the truth about what happened to Merlin. He could practically see the fury radiating in waves off the man.

“Lancelot, I think you need to calm your self down.” Arthur replied evenly, in an attempt to get the man to calm himself 

“What I NEED is for you to tell me what happened.” Lancelot snapped back, the man quickly losing control over his anger. 

“Lancelot, I won’t say anything till you’ve –“

“DAMN IT ALL ARTHUR!” He shouted, rising to his feet before the men. “I deserve to know the truth.”

“Fine.” Arthur conceded with a heavy sigh. “I’ll tell you everything that happened, but you must let me get through the whole story before you say anything. Can you at least promise me that?”

Arthur knew how close Merlin and Lancelot had been and if he was going to tell the whole story, he would have to tell the man about Merlin's secret. After seeing the way the knight had responded to Morgana’s return, he wasn’t sure how he would react when he realizes that one of his closest friends had been lying to him. It was something Arthur himself had already gone through that day – something he was still dealing with.

So Arthur began telling the story of everything that had happened that day. As he got closer and closer to the point in the story where Merlin's secret was revealed, he became more nervous about how Lancelot would react. Up to that point, the man had kept his promise and never uttered a single word, his face remaining unreadable throughout the whole story.

But at last the moment finally came. 

"She'd said without Merlin, Camelot's bravest and most loyal weapon standing at my side, that all hope would be lost." Arthur explained, his voice low and full of pain.

At the time he hadn't understood the full meaning behind her words, he had no earthly clue of how Merlin could possibly be used as a weapon against him, but now he knew just how true her words were.

He was about to continue when he looked up and noticed a change in the knight's face. Had it not been for everything that had happened that day Arthur may have never noticed the slightest change in Lancelot at his words, but he did. He could see the hint of worry that covered the man's face, the sense of foreboding that was clear as day, it was as if Lancelot knew what was coming next.

Arthur could see it in his eyes. Lancelot already knew about Merlin's secret.

Swallowing the lump in his throat, Arthur continued.

"I told Morgana that Merlin was not a weapon. So she decided to prove me wrong. Under her control, Merlin lifted his arm and his eyes changed from black into a molten silver and before anyone could react my sword was wrenched out of my hand and my body lifted into the air as Leon and Gwaine were both thrown backwards. In a single moment Morgana was able to prove her point and make her big reveal - that she had Merlin and his magic at her complete disposal."

As soon as the words were out of his mouth, Arthur saw the knight's face fall, as if his worst fears had been realized and that was all the proof Arthur needed.

He'd been so worried about how the man would respond to learning about Merlin's lies, but apparently his concern was unnecessary. In that short moment, he could see that Lancelot had been more worried about him knowing Merlin's secret than he'd been about the knights reaction to the truth. He felt like a fool.

"But you already knew about Merlin's magic didn't you?" Arthur asked, unable to keep the bitterness out of his voice. Coming to the realization that Merlin had trusted Lancelot and not him with his secret almost hurt more than learning about the secret itself. 

"Arthur what are you talking about, there's no way Lancelot could have known." Gwaine jumped in, trying to ease the tension that had suddenly materialized at Arthur's cutting words.

"Tell him the truth Lancelot." Arthur demanded, not taking his eyes off the knight, wanting to see the moment the man admitted that he'd known about Merlin's magic all along.

"Arthur, I'm sorry. This wasn't how you were supposed to find out." Lancelot said, not even attempting to deny the truth.

"WHAT?" Gwaine shouted, the shock clearly covering his entire face. "I can't believe Merlin told you about his magic before he told me!" 

Arthur stood up from where he was sitting and started making his way to the tree line, wanting to get as far away from the knight as he possibly could.

"Arthur I swear to you” Lancelot pleaded with Arthur as he retreated, “Merlin didn't choose to tell me about his magic. My finding out was completely by accident." 

Arthur stopped at the edge of the clearing, his back still turned on the men and the fire behind him. He wanted to believe what Lancelot was telling him was true. 

"When did it happen?" 

Lancelot stepped forward running his hand over the back of his neck. "Arthur, it's not important when-"

"It's important to me." Arthur said as he snapped back around to the men, cutting the knight off mid-sentence. "No more secrets and no more lies. I want the whole truth." He insisted as he stepped back into the circle.

Lancelot looked to each of the men that surrounded him and he couldn't help but feel hesitant. For years he had kept Merlin's secret, but none of that mattered anymore because Arthur knew and Merlin couldn't even be there to explain everything for himself. 

"I found out about Merlin's magic the first time I came to Camelot." 

Arthur couldn't stop the pained noise that escaped from his mouth as he brought hand up to run over his face. Lancelot had known all along. For as long as he'd been a part of their lives, he'd known a side of Merlin that Arthur had never gotten the chance to see. 

He thought back to all the times he'd seen Merlin and Lancelot away from the rest of the knights, anyone could see how comfortable the two of them were whenever they were near each other - how easily they joked and had a good time. And now Arthur knew why. It was because Merlin didn't need to hide who he really was when he was with Lancelot, Merlin was able to be his true self around the man in a way he never could be around Arthur.

"How did it happen?" Arthur asked.

"It was the Griffin." Lancelot admitted.

"You didn't kill it did you?" Arthur chuckled. Just another time to add to the list where Merlin saves the day and someone else ends up taking the credit.

"Well technically I did kill it, I just had a little help from Merlin." Lancelot said smiling at the memory. "As I rode towards the beast I heard Merlin enchant the lance I was using. At the time Merlin had no idea that I'd heard him do it, but before I left Camelot I told him that I knew what he did and I promised to keep his secret. Now that I think about it, I'm a bit surprised more people didn't find out, Merlin can be a bit careless at times."

“That or the rest of us are just thick.” Arthur replied.

Lancelot had a point, Merlin may be some great sorcerer, but there was no way that the boy's clumsiness and incompetence was all some elaborate act to fool them. So Arthur couldn't help but wonder, just how many times had he come close to finding out Merlin's secret for himself.

So caught up in his own thoughts, Arthur didn't realize that Gwaine and Leon had continued to tell Lancelot about what happened with Morgana and Merlin, but when they finished Lancelot was still confused.

“Okay, but that still doesn't explain what happened with the dragon or why you lot are even out here in the first place. With everything that's going on with Morgana shouldn't you be back at Camelot?”

“Well not long after Morgana disappeared we suddenly hear people screaming from clear across the castle, shouting as if their lives depended on it. So when we finally make it to the courtyard where all the commotion was coming from we see this massive dragon hovering right above us. Next thing we know the creature is demanding to speak to Arthur about a young warlock. Little did we know he was talking about Merlin.” Gwaine explained, getting more excited as he told the story.

“Hold on a second.” Lancelot said shaking his head. “This dragon you speak of, it was the Great Dragon wasn't it? Kilgharrah right?”

“Wait, you already know Kilgharrah? How is it you got to meet a dragon before I did?” Gwaine demanded, sounding very much like a jealous child.

“Well I never actually met the beast.” Lancelot admitted. “I only know what Merlin's told me about him.”

“Which is what exactly?” Arthur asked, finally rejoining the conversation.

“Well he didn't tell me much about the creature. Merlin really only told me about how he'd first met the creature in the depths of Camelot and about how he became a...” Lancelot stopped again, unsure if the other men knew about Merlin's other secret.

Arthur sensing the man's discomfort had a fairly good idea why he was hesitating at finishing his sentence.

“We already know about Merlin being the last Dragonlord.”

Lancelot let out a sigh of relief.

“So you can go ahead and finish your story.” Arthur said, urging the man to continue.

“Well he told me about the dragon's attack on Camelot, your search for Balinor, and how he finally gained the power to stop the dragon, about how it was only after his father's death that he could gain the power and abilities of a Dragonlord and stop the beast from destroying the entire city.”

Arthur's mind sputtered to a complete halt at the knight's words. Off to Arthur's side Gwaine started choking on a piece of an apple he'd just taken from one of Lancelot's bags.

“His father?” Arthur asked, his voice barely above a whisper.

Lancelot, whose focus was solely on Arthur at the moment, didn't see Gwaine's silent but erratic hand signals to not say another word.

“Yes his father. Balinor.” He answered. It wasn't till after the words were out of his mouth that he noticed Gwaine's frantic attempt to get his attention, but it was already too late. 

Balinor was Merlin's father. The words kept repeating themselves over and over again in Arthur's mind, followed up shortly by the memory of Merlin broken and sobbing over the man's dead body. For the life of him, Arthur could never understand why Merlin had been so upset over the man's death, but now his reaction made complete sense.

And what had Arthur told him afterwards? That no man was worth his tears. At the time there was no way he could have known the truth, but that didn't make his feel any less like shit.

Merlin had watched his father die in his arms, and Arthur essentially told him to man up and stop crying.

Hearing hushed whispers to his side, Arthur looked up to see Gwaine giving Lancelot a scathing look of disapproval. 

“You knew Gwaine?” Arthur asked, unable to make himself sound angry at the man.

Gwaine abruptly stopped his hushed conversation with Lancelot and turned back to Arthur, looking like a child caught doing something he had been told not to.

“When did you put it together?” Arthur knew it had to have been recently.

“It was the dragon.” Gwaine admitted. “When he told us about Merlin becoming the last Dragonlord only after Balinor's death.”

When Arthur and Leon still looked confused at his explanation Gwaine sighed and continued.

“Like I told you lot before, when you live outside of Camelot and in other lands where magic is illegal, well you learn certain things. One of the legends surrounding the Dragonlords is that their powers can only be passed down from parents to their children. And while parents can teach their children many things about being a Dragonlord, it's only after their death that their son or daughter gain full access to their abilities.”

“Camelot was under siege for days before Gaius suggested we go in search of Balinor. Why didn't Merlin propose we find the man sooner?” Arthur asked. Merlin didn't exactly have to bring it up himself, but surely he could have just asked Gaius to suggest the idea sooner than he did.

“He didn't know.” Gwaine replied, his voice full of regret.

“What do you mean he didn't know?” Arthur asked, not entirely sure he wanted an answer. 

“Merlin never knew his father.” Lancelot said, his words tearing through Arthur like a knife.

“Right before the two of you set out in search of the man, Gaius told Merlin that Balinor was his father and that he was still out there. From what Merlin told me, Gaius had helped the man escape your father after Uther tricked him into bringing the last dragon to Camelot, saying that he wanted to make peace with the creature, but once they arrived in the city Uther trapped the beast and set out to kill every last Dragonlord. Merlin's mother had been an old and trusted friend of Gaius and he sent Balinor to her for protection and well – that's how he ended up in Ealdor.” Lancelot finished awkwardly. 

In the silence following Lancelot's retelling, Arthur suddenly found himself laughing, starting as a small chuckle and growing into a full blown laugh. The three knights around him just stared on, worried that Arthur had finally cracked from everything that'd happened that day.

“Sire?” Leon asked wearily.

“Don't you see it?” Arthur asked, his voice a mixture of pain and humor. “Don't you see the irony of it all?”

The three men shared concerned looks, completely clueless as to what Arthur was talking about.

“Had it not been for my father's never ending and bitter war on magic, Balinor would have never needed to escape my father and Gaius wouldn't have sent him to Hunith, and as a result Merlin would never have been born.” Arthur explained. “In a way my father's hatred for magic was directly responsible for the birth of the most powerful sorcerer to ever walk this earth.”


End file.
